The Lair Of The White Worm (40-chapter version)

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UNIVERSITY of

CHICAGO

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LIBRARY

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1

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THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM

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“ ‘Dozen the turret stair she flew quickly.”

[facing PAGE 294-

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, J THE, |
LAIR OF THE
W H I T E W O R M

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BY

BRAM STOKER

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WILLIAM I’lDER AND SON, LIMITED

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THE

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LAIR OF THE
WHITE WORM

BRAM SJOKER

AUTHOR OF “DRACULA,” ETC.

WILLIAM RIDER AND SON, LIMITED
164 Aldersgate St., London, E.C.

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, C / - 1 La?

Copyright in Great Britain and her Dependencies
by Bram Stoker, 19x1.

Copyright in the United States of America
by Bram Stoker, 1911.

All Rights Reserved.

\

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TO

MY FRIEND

BERTHA NICOLL

WITH AFFECTIONATE ESTEEM

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/

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CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

1. ADAM S ALTON ARRIVES 1

2. THE CASWALLS OF CASTRA REGIS ... 8

3. diana’s grove 21

4. THE LADY ARABELLA MARCH .... 28

5. home-coming 36

6. THE WHITE WORM ...... 44

7. HAWK AND PIGEON 55

8. OOLANGA 64

9. SURVIVALS 73

10. SMELLING DEATH 82

11. THE FIRST ENCOUNTER 91

12. THE KITE 99

13. mesmer’s CHEST ...... 105

14. THE CHEST OPENED ...... 114

15. oolanga’s hallucinations .... 121

16. BATTLE RENEWED 130

17. THE SHUTTING OF THE DOOR .... 137

18. ON THE TRACK 144

19. A VISIT OF SYMPATHY 151

20. THE MYSTERY OF u THE GROVE” . . . 160

21. EXIT OOLANGA ....... 168

22. SELF-JUSTIFICATION ...... 177

23. AN ENEMY IN THE DARK 184

vii

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viii The Lair of the White Worm

CHAP. PAGI

24 . METABOLISM 191

25 . THE DECREE 197

26 . A LIVING BARBETTE 204

27 . GREEN LIGHT 212

28 . AT CLOSE QUARTERS 218

29 . IN THE enemy’s HOUSE 225

30 . A RACE FOR LIFE 232

31 . BACK TO DOOM 239

32 . A STARTLING PROPOSITION 245

33 . war k l’outrance 251

34 . apprehension 258

35 . THE LAST BATTLE 264

36 . FACE TO FACE 270

37 . ERITIS SICUT DEUS 276

38 . ON THE TURRET ROOF 283

39 . THE BREAKING OF THE STORM .... 297

40 . WRECKAGE 319

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGI

“ ‘ He kept his eyes fixed on Lilia ’ ” 60

“ Lady Arabella was dancing in a fantastic sort of way ” . 86

“ The kite was shaped like a great hawk ” . . . 100

“OolaDga’s black face . . . peering out from a clump of

evergreens ” 148

“ They could follow the tall white shaft ” . . . 222

“ Down the turret stair she flew quickly ” . . 294

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THE LAIR OF THE
WHITE WORM

CHAPTER I

ADAM SALTON ARRIVES

When Adam Salton arrived at the Great Eastern
Hotel lie found awaiting him a letter in the hand-
writing of his grand-uncle, Richard Salton, which
he knew so well from the many kind letters which
he had received from him in West Australia. The
first of them had been written less than a year
before, in which the old gentleman, who had
in it claimed kinship, stated that he had been
unable to write earlier because until then he did
not know even of his existence, and it had taken
him some time to find out his address. ^ The last,
sent after him, had only just arrived, and conveyed
a most cordial invitation to stop with him at Lesser
Hill for as long a time as he could spare. “ Indeed,”
his grand-uncle went on, “ I am in hopes that you
will make your permanent home here. You see,
my dear boy, that you and I are all that remain of
our race, and it is but fitting that you should succeed

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2 The Lair of the White Worm

me when the time comes, which cannot be long
now. I am getting close on eighty years of age, and
though we have been a long-lived race, the span of
life cannot be prolonged beyond reasonable bounds.
I am prepared to like you and to make your home
with me as happy a one as I can achieve. So do
come at once on receipt of this and find the welcome
I am waiting to give you. I send, in case such may
make matters easy for you, a banker’s draft for
£500. Come soon, so that we may both of us have
such happy days as are still possible to us. For
me this is all-important, as the sands of my life are
fast running out ; but for you I trust there are
many happy years to come. If you are able to
give me the pleasure of seeing you, send me as soon
as you can a letter telling me to expect you. Then
when you arrive at Plymouth or Southampton (or
whatever port you are bound for), send me a tele-
gram, and I shall come to meet you at the earliest
hour possible.”

On Monday, Adam Salton’s letter arrived by the
morning post, saying that he hoped to travel by the
boat which carried it, and that he would therefore
be ready to meet his grand-uncle so soon after the
arrival of the letter in Mercia as he should be able
to reach London. “ I shall wait your arrival, sir,
on the ship. By this means we may avoid any
cross purposes.”

Mr Salton took it for granted that, no matter how
fast he might travel, his guest would be awaiting

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Adam Salton Arrives

3

him ; so he gave instructions to have ready a
carriage at seven the next morning to start for
Stafford, where he would catch the 11.40 for
Euston, arriving at 2.10. Thence, driving to
Waterloo, he could catch the 3 p.m., due at
Southampton at 5.38. He would that night stay
with his grand-nephew, either on the ship, which
would be a new experience for him, or, if his guest
should prefer it, at a hotel. In either case they
would start in the early morning for home. He
had given instructions to his bailiff to send the
postillion carriage on to Southampton to be ready
for their journey home, and to arrange for relays
of his own horses to be sent on at once. He in-
tended that his grand-nephew, who had been all his
life in Australia, should see something of central
England on the drive. He had plenty of young
horses of his own breeding and breaking, and could
depend on a journey memorable to the young man.
The luggage would be sent on by rail the same day
to Stafford, where one of his own carts would meet
it. Mr Salton, during the journey to Southampton,
often wondered if his grand-nephew was as much
excited as he was at the idea of meeting so near a
relation for the first time ; and it was with an effort
that he controlled himself. The endless railway
lines and switches round the Southampton Docks
fired his anxiety afresh.

As the train drew up on the dockside, he was
getting his hand traps together, when the carriage

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4 The Lair of the White Worm

door was wrenched open and a young man jumped
in, saying as he came :

“ How are you, uncle ? I wanted to meet you as
soon as I could, but everything is so strange to me
that I didn’t quite know what to do. However,
I took chance that the railway people knew some-
thing of their own business — and here I am. I am
glad to see you, sir. I have been dreaming of the
happiness for thousands of miles ; and now I find
that the reality beats all the dreaming ! ” As he
spoke the old man and the young one were heartily
wringing each other’s hands. He went on : “I
think I knew you the moment I set eyes on you.
I am glad that that dream was only enhanced by
the reality ! ”

The meeting so auspiciously begun proceeded
well. Adam, seeing that the old man was interested
in the novelty of the ship, suggested timidly that
he should stay the night on board, and that he
would himself be ready to start at any hour and
go anywhere that the other suggested. This
affectionate willingness to fall in with his own
plans quite won the old man’s heart. He warmly
accepted the invitation, and at once they became
not only on terms of affectionate relationship, but
almost as old friends. The heart of the old man,
which had been empty for so long, found a new
delight. So, too, the young man found on landing
in the old country a welcome and a surrounding
in full harmony with all his dreams of such matters

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Adam Salton Arrives

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throughout all his wanderings and solitude, and the
promise of a fresh and adventurous life. It was
not long before the old man accepted him to full
relationship by calling him by his Christian name.
The other accepted the proffer with such heartiness
that he was soon regarded as the future companion,
almost the child, of his old age. After a long talk
on affairs of interest, they retired to the cabin,
which the elder was to share. Bichard Salton,
putting his hands affectionately on the boy’s
shoulders — though Adam was in his twenty-seventh
year, he was a boy, and always would be, to his
grand-uncle, — said warmly :

“ I am so glad to find you as you are, my dear
boy — just such a young man as I had always hoped
for as a son in the days when I still had such hopes.
However, dear boy, that is all past. But thank
God there is a new life to begin for both of us. To
you must be the larger part — but there is still time
for some of it to be shared in common. I have
waited till we should hftve seen each other to
enter upon the subject ; for I thought it better
not to tie up your young life to my old one till
we should ^have both sufficient personal knowledge
to justify such a venture. Now I can (so far as
I am concerned) enter into it freely, since from
the moment my eyes rested on you I saw my son
— as he shall be, God willing — if he chooses such a
course himself.”

“ Indeed I do, sir — with all my heart ! ”

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6 The Lair of the White Worm

“ Thank you, Adam, for that/’ The old man’s
eyes filled and his voice trembled. Then, after a
long silence between them, he went on : “ When
I heard you were coming I made my will. It was
well that your interests should be protected from
that moment on. Here is the deed — keep it, Adam.
All I have shall belong to you ; and if love and
good wishes or the memory of them can make life
sweeter, yours shall be a happy one. And now,
my dear boy, let us turn in. We start early in
the morning and have a long drive before us.
I hope you don’t mind carriage driving ? I was
going to have sent down the old travelling car-
riage in which my grandfather, your great-grand-
uncle, went to Court when William IV. was king.
It is all right — they built well in those days — and it
has been kept in perfect order. But I think I have
done better : I have sent the carriage in which I
travel myself. The horses are of my own breeding,
and relays of them shall take us all the way. I hope
you like horses ? They have long been one of my
greatest interests in life.”

“ I love them, sir, and I am happy to say I have
many of my own. My father gave me a horse farm
for myself when I was sixteen. I devoted myself
to it, and it has gone on. Before I came away, my
steward gave me a memorandum that we have in
my own places more than a thousand, nearly all
good.”

“ I am glad, my boy. Another link between us.”

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Adam Salton Arrives 7

“ Just fancy what a delight it will be, sir, to see
so much of middle England — and with you ! ”

“ Thank you again, my boy. I shall tell you all
about your future home and its surroundings as we
go. We shall travel in old-fashioned state, I tell you.
My grandfather always drove four-in-hand ; and so
shall we.”

" Oh, thanks, sir, thanks. May I take the ribbons
sometimes ? ”

“ Whenever you choose, Adam. The team is
your own. Every horse we use to-day is to be
your own.”

“ You are too generous, unole ! ”

“ Not at all. Only an old man’s selfish pleasure.
It is not every day that an heir to the old home
comes back. And — oh, by the way . . . No, we
had better turn in now — I shall tell you the rest in
the morning.”

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CHAPTER II

THE CASWALLS OF CASTRA REGIS

Me S alton had all his life been an early riser, and
necessarily an early waker. But early as he woke
on the next morning, and although there was an
excuse for not prolonging sleep in the constant
whirr and rattle of the “ donkey ” engine winches of
the great ship, when he waked he met the eyes of
Adam fixed on him from his berth. His grand-
nephew had given him the sofa, occupying the lower
berth himself. The old man, despite his great
strength and normal activity, was somewhat tired
by his long journey of the day before and the pro-
longed and exciting interview which followed it.
So he was glad to lie still and rest his body, whilst
his mind was actively exercised in taking in all he
could of his strange surroundings. Adam, too, after
the pastoral habit to which he had been bred, woke
with the dawn, if not before it, and was ready to
enter on the experiences of the new day whenever
it might suit his elder companion. It was little
wonder, then, that, so soon as each realised the
other’s readiness, they simultaneously jumped up
and began to dress. The steward had by previous

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The Caswalls of Castra Regis 9

instructions early breakfast prepared, and it was
not long before they went down the gangway on
shore in search of the carriage.

They found Mr Salton’s bailiff waiting on the
dock, and he brought them at once to where the
carriage was waiting in the street. Bichard Salton
pointed out with pride to his young companion the
suitability of the trap to every need of travel. It
was a sort of double gig, excellently made, and with
every appliance adapted for both speed and safety.
To it were harnessed four fine, useful horses, with a
postillion to each pair.

“ See,” said the old man proudly, “ how it has
all the luxuries of useful travel — silence and isola-
tion as well as speed. There is nothing to obstruct
the view of those travelling and no one to overhear
what they may say. I have used that trap for a
quarter of a century, and I never saw one more
suitable for travel. You shall test it shortly. We
are going to drive through the heart of England ;
and as we go I shall tell you what I was speaking of
last night. Our route is to be by Salisbury, Bath,
Bristol, Cheltenham, Worcester, Stafford; and so
home.”

After remaining silent a few minutes, what time
he seemed all eyes, for he perpetually ranged the
whole circle of the horizon, Adam said :

“ Has our journey to-day, sir, any special relation
to what you said last night that you wanted to tell
me ? ”

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io The Lair of the White Worm

44 Not directly ; but indirectly, everything.”

44 Won’t you tell me now — I see we cannot be
overheard — and if anything strikes you as we go
along, just run it in. I shall understand.”

So old Salton spoke :

44 To begin at the beginning, Adam. That lecture
of yours on 4 The Romans in Britain 9 set me think-
ing — in addition to telling me where you were. I
wrote to you at once and asked you to come home,
for it struck me that if you were fond of historical
research — as seemed a fact — this was exactly the
place for you, in addition to its being the place of
your own forbears. If you could learn so much of
the British Romans so far away in West Australia,
where there cannot be even a tradition of them,
what might you not make of the same amount of
study on the very spot. Where we are going is in
the real heart of the old kingdom of Mercia, where
there are traces of all the various nationalities which
made up the conglomerate which became Britain.”
After a slight pause Adam said :

44 1 rather gathered that you had some more
definite — more personal reason for my hurrying.
After all, history can keep — except in the making ! ”
44 Quite right, my boy. I had a reason such as
you very wisely guessed at. I was anxious for you
to be here when a rather important phase of our
local history occurred.”

44 What is that, if I may ask, sir ? ”

44 Certainly. The great owner of all this part of

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The Caswalls of Castra Regis n

the county — of several of the counties — is on his
way home, and there will be a great home-coming,
which you may care to see. The fact is, that for
more than a century the various owners in the
succession here, with the exception of a short time,
lived abroad/’

“ How is that, sir, if I may again ask ? ”

“ By all means. That is why I wished you to be
here — so that you might learn. We have a good
stretch without incident before us till we get in
sight of Salisbury, so I had better begin now :

“ Our great house and estate in this part of the
world is Castra Regis, the family seat of the Caswall
family. The last owner who lived here was
Edgar Caswall, great-grand-uncle of the man who is
coming here — and he was the only man who stayed
even the short time. His grandfather, also named
Edgar — they keep the tradition of the family
Christian name — quarrelled with his family and
went to live abroad, not keeping up any relations,
good or bad, with his relatives. His son was bom
and lived and died abroad. His son, the latest
inheritor, was also bom and lived abroad till he was
over thirty, — his present age. This was the second
line of absentees. The great-great-grandfather of
the present Edgar also cut himself off from his
family and went abroad, from which sojourn he
never returned. The consequence has been that
the great estate of Castra Regis has had no know-
ledge of its owner for six generations — covering

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12 The Lair of the White Worm

more than a hundred years. It has been well
administered, however, and no tenant or other
connected with it has had anything to complain of.
All the same, there has been much natural anxiety
to see the new owner, and we are all excited about
the event of his coming. Even I am, though I own
my own estate, which, though adjacent, is quite
apart from Castra Regis. — Here we are now in new
ground for you. That is the spire of Salisbury
Cathedral, and when we leave that we shall be getting
close to the old Roman county and you will naturally
want your eyes. So we shall shortly have to keep
our minds on old Mercia. However, you need not
be disappointed. My old friend, Sir Nathaniel de
Salis, who, like myself, is a freeholder near Castra
Regis, though not on it — his estate, Doom Tower, is
over the border of Derbyshire, on the Peak — is
coming to stay with me for all the festivities to
welcome Edgar Caswall. He is just the sort of
man you will like. He is devoted to history, and
is President of the Mercian Archeological Society.
He knows more of our own part of the country,
with its history and its people, than anyone else.
I expect he will have arrived before us, and we three
can have a long chat after dinner. He is also our
local geologist and natural historian. So you and
he will have many interests in common. Amongst
other things he has a special knowledge of the Peak
and its caverns, and knows all the old legends of the
days when prehistoric times were vital.”

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The Cas walls of Castra Regis 13

From this on till they came to Stafford, Adam’s
eyes were in constant employment on matters of
the road ; and it was not till Salton had declared
that they had now entered on the last stage of their
journey that he referred back to Sir Nathaniel’s
coming.

As the dusk was closing down they drove on to
Lesser Hill, Mr Salton’s house. It was now too
dark to see detail of their surrounding. Adam
could just see that it was on the top of a hill, not
quite so high as that which was covered by the
Castle, on whose tower flew the flag, and which was
all ablaze with moving lights, manifestly used in
the preparations for the festivities on the morrow.
So Adam deferred his curiosity till daylight. His
grand-uncle was met at the door by a fine old man,
who said as he greeted him warmly :

“ I came over early as you wished me to. I
suppose this is your grand-nephew — I am glad to
meet you, Mr Adam Salton. I am Nathaniel de
Salis, and your uncle is the oldest of my friends.”

Adam, from the moment of their eyes meeting,
felt as if they were already old friends. The meeting
was a new note of welcome to those that had already
sounded in his ears.

The cordiality with which Sir Nathaniel and Adam
met made the imparting of the former’s information
easy both to speak and to hear. Sir Nathaniel was
quite a clever old man of the world, who had
travelled much and within a certain area studied

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14 The Lair of the White Worm

deeply. He was a brilliant conversationalist, as
was to be expected from a successful diplomatist,
even under unstimulating conditions. But be had
been touched and to a certain extent fired by the
younger man’s evident admiration and willingness
to learn from him. Accordingly the conversation,
which began on the most friendly basis, soon warmed
to an interest above proof as the old man spoke of
it next day to Richard Salton. He knew already
that his old friend wanted his grand-nephew to
learn all he could of the subject in hand, and so
had during his journey from the Peak put his
thoughts in sequence for narration and explanation.
Accordingly, Adam had only to listen and he must
learn much that he wanted to know. When dinner
was over and the servants had withdrawn, leaving
the three men at their wine, Sir Nathaniel began :

“ I gather from your uncle — by the way, I suppose
we had better speak of you as uncle and nephew,
instead of going into exact relationship ? In fact,
your uncle is so old and dear a friend, that, with
your permission, I shall drop formality with you
altogether and speak of you and to you as Adam,
as though you were his son.”

“ I would wish, sir,” answered the young man,

“ nothing better in the world ! ”

The answer warmed the hearts of both the old .
men who heard. All the men felt touched, but,
with the usual avoidance of Englishmen of
emotional subjects personal to themselves, they

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The Caswalls of Castra Regis 15

instinctively moved the previous question. Sir
Nathaniel took the lead :

“ I understand, Adam, that your uncle has posted
you regarding the relationships of the Caswall
family ? ”

“ Partly, sir ; but I understood that I was to
hear minuter details from you — if you would be so
good.”

“ I shall be delighted to tell you anything so far
as my knowledge goes. Well, we have to remember,
in connection with the events of to-morrow, that
not less than ten generations of that family are
involved. And I really believe that for a true
understanding of the family ramifications you
cannot begin better than having the list as a basis.
Everything which we may consider as we go along
will then take its natural place without extra
trouble. The present branch of affairs begins
only about something more than a hundred and
fifty years ago. Later we may have to go further
back, for the history of the Caswall family is coeval
with that of England — we need not trouble ourselves
with dates ; the facts will be more easily grasped
in a general way.

“The first Caswall in our immediate record is
Edgar, who was head of the family and owner of
the estate, who came into his kingdom just about
the time that George III. did. He had one son of
about twenty-four. There was a violent quarrel
between the two. No one of this generation has

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1 6 The Lair of the White Worm

any idea of the cause of it ; but, considering the
family characteristics, we may take it for granted
that though it was deep and violent, it was on the
surface trivial.

“ The result of the quarrel was that the son left
the house without approaching a reconciliation or
without even telling his father where he was going.
He never came back to the house again. A few
years after, he died without having in the mean-
time exchanged a word or a letter with his father.
He married abroad and left one son, who seems
to have been brought up in ignorance of all be-
longing to him. The gulf between them appears
to have been unbridgable ; for in time this son
married and in turn had a son, but neither joy
nor sorrow brought the sundered together. Under
such conditions no rapprochement was to be looked
for, and an utter indifference, founded at best on
ignorance, took the place of family affection — even
on community of interests. It was only due to the
watchfulness of the lawyers that the birth and
death of a new heir was ever made known. In
time a second son appeared, but without any effect
of friendly advance.

“ At last there arose a dim hope of some cessation
of hostility, for though none of the separated made
mention of the fact — knowledge of which was
again due to the lawyers — a son was bom to this
youngest member of the voluntary exiles — the
great-grandson of the Edgar whose son had left

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The Caswalls of Castra Regis 17

him. After this the family interest merely rested
on heirship of the estate — any outside interest
being submerged in the fact of a daughter being
bom to the grandson of the first Edgar. Some
twenty years afterwards, the interest flickered up
when it was made known — again through the lawyers
— that the last two bom had been married, thus
shutting off any possibility of disputed heirship.
As no other child had been bom to any of the
newer generations in the intervening twenty years,
all hopes of heritage were now centred in the son
of this last couple — the heir whose home-coming
we are to celebrate to-morrow. The elder genera-
tions had all died away, and there were no colla-
terals, so there was no possibility of the heirship
being disputed.

“ Now, it will be well for you to bear in mind the
prevailing characteristics of this race. These were
well preserved and unchanging ; one and all they
are the same : cold, selfish, dominant, reckless of
consequences in pursuit of their own will. It was
not that they did not keep faith, though that was
a matter which gave them little concern, but that
they took care to think beforehand of what they
should do in order to gain their ends. If they
should make a mistake someone else should bear
the burthen of it. This was so perpetually recurrent
that it seemed to be a part of a fixed policy. It was
no wonder indeed that whatever changes took place
they were always ensured in their own possessions.

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1 8 The Lair of the White Worm

They were absolutely of cold, hard nature. Not
one of them — so far as we have any knowledge —
was ever known to be touched by the softer senti-
ments, to swerve from his purpose, or hold his hand
in obedience to the dictates of his heart. Part of
this was due to their dominant, masterful nature.
The aquiline features which marked them seemed
to justify every personal harshness. The pictures
and effigies of them all show their adherence to the
early Roman type. Their eyes were full ; their hair,
of raven blackness, grew thick and close and curly.
Their figures were massive and typical of strength.

“ The thick black hair growing low down on the
neck told of vast physical strength and endurance.
But the most remarkable characteristic is the eyes.
Black, piercing, almost unendurable, they seem
to contain in themselves a remarkable will power
which there is no gainsaying. It is a power that
is partly racial and partly individual : a power
impregnated with some mysterious quality, partly
hypnotic, partly mesmeric, which seems to take
away from eyes that meet them all power of
resistance, nay, deeper, all power of wishing to resist.
With eyes like those set in that aquiline, all-com-
manding face one would need to be strong indeed
to even think of resisting the inflexible will that lay
beyond. Even the habit and the exercise of power
which they implied was a danger to anyone who
was conscious of a weakness on his own part.

“ You may think, Adam, that all this is imagina-

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The Caswalls of Castra Regis 19

tion on my part, especially as I have never seen any
belonging to the generation I have spoken of. So
it is. But imagination based on deep study. I
have made use of all I know or can surmise logically
regarding this strange race. And with this data,
however received, I have thought out logical
results, correcting, amending, intensifying accepted
conclusions, till at times I see as though various
members of the race had always been under my
observation — that they are even under it still.
With such strange compelling qualities, is it any
wonder that there is abroad an idea that in the
race there is some demoniac possession, which tends
to a more definite belief that certain individuals
have in the past sold themselves to the Devil ? The
Devil, I may say in this connection, is seldom
mentioned in propria persona , but generally under
some accepted guise, * The Powers of Evil/ ‘ The
Enemy of Mankind/ ‘ The Prince of the Air/ etc.
I don’t know what it is in other places ; but along
this eastern coast it is not considered polite to
speak the truth plainly, baldly, in such matters,
but to cover up the idea with a veil of obscurity
in which safety or security may be hidden.

“ But I think we had better go to bed now. We
have a lot to go through to-morrow, and I want
you to have your brain clear, and all your suscepti-
bilities fresh. Moreover, I want you to come with
me in an early walk in which we may notice, whilst
the matter is fresh in our minds, the peculiar dis-

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20 The Lair of the White Worm

position of this place — not merely your grandfather’s
estate, but the lie of the country around it. There
are many things on which we may seek — and
perhaps find — enlightenment. The more we know
at the start, the more things which may come into
our view will develop themselves.”

So they all went off to bed.

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CHAPTER III

DIANA'S GROVE

Curiosity took Adam Salton out of bed in the early
morning, but when he had dressed and gone down-
stairs, he found that, early as he was, Sir Nathaniel
de Salis was ahead of him. The old gentleman was
quite prepared for a long walk if necessary, and they
started at once. Sir Nathaniel, without speaking,
led the way a little to the east down the hill. When
they had descended and risen again, they found
themselves on the eastern brink of a steep hill.
It was of lesser height than that on which the Castle
was seated ; but it was so placed that it commanded
the various hills that crowned the ridge. All along
the ridge the rock cropped out, bare and bleak, but
broken in rough formed natural castellation. The
form of the ridge was a segment of a circle, with the
higher points inland to the west. In the centre
rose the Castle on the highest point of all. Between
the various rocky excrescences were groups of trees
of various sizes and heights, amongst some of which
were what in the early morning light looked like ruins .
These — whatever they were — were of massive grey
stone, probably limestone rudely cut — if indeed

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22 The Lair of the White Worm

they were not shaped naturally. The largest of
these clumps was of oak trees of great age. They
crossed the least of the hills, that which lay to the
eastward. The fall of the ground was steep all
along the ridge, so steep that here and there both
trees and rocks and buildings seemed to overhang
the level plain far below. Through this level ran
many streams, and there was a number of blue
pools, where was evidently fairly deep water.

Sir Nathaniel stopped and looked all around him,
as though to lose nothing of the effect. The sun
had climbed the eastern sky and was making all
details clear. Sir Nathaniel pointed all round him
with a sweeping gesture, as though calling Adam’s
attention to the wideness of the view. He did so
so rapidly as to suggest that he wished the other to
take, in the first survey, rather the coup d’ceil than
any detail. Having done so, he covered the ground
in a similar way, but more slowly, as though inviting
attention to detail. Adam was a willing and atten-
tive pupil, and followed his motions exactly, missing
— or trying to miss — nothing. When they had made
the rough survey round the whole sweep of the
eastern horizon, Sir Nathaniel spoke :

“ I have brought you here, Adam, because it
seems to me that this is the spot on which to begin
our investigations. You have now in front of you
almost the whole of the ancient kingdom of Mercia.
In fact, we see, theoretically if not practically, the
whole of it except that furthest part which is covered

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Diana’s Grove

23

by the Welsh Marches and those parts which are
hidden from where we stand by the high ground of
the immediate west. We can see — again theoreti-
cally if not practically — the whole of the eastern
bound of the kingdom which ran south from the
Humber to the Wash. I want you to bear in mind
the trend of the ground, for some time, sooner or
later, we shall do well to have it in our mind’s eye
when we are considering the ancient traditions
and even superstitions and are trying to find the
rationale of them. I think we had better not try to
differentiate between these, but let them naturally
take their places as we go on. Each legend, each
superstition which we receive will help in the
understanding and possible elucidation of the others.
And as all such have a local basis, we can come
closer to the truth — or the probability — by knowing
the local conditions as we go along. It will help us
to bring to our aid even such geological truth as we
may have between us. For instance, the building
materials used in various ages can afford their own
lessons to understanding eyes. The very heights
and shapes and materials of these hills, nay, even
of the wide plain that lies between us and the sea,
have in themselves the materials of enlightening
books.”

“ For instance, sir ? ” said Adam, venturing a
question.

“ Well, for instance, look at those hills which
surround the main one where the site for the Castle

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24 The Lair of the White Worm

was wisely chosen — on the highest ground. Take
the others. There is something ostensible in each
of them, and in all probability something unseen
and unproved, but to be imagined, also.”

“ For instance ? ” continued Adam.

“ Let us take them seriatim . That to the east,
where the trees are, lower down. That was once
the location of a Roman temple, possibly founded
on a pre-existing Druidical one. Its name implies
the former, and the grove of ancient oaks suggests
the latter.”

“ Please explain.”

“ The old name translated means ‘ Diana’s
Grove.’ Then the next one higher than it, but just
beyond it, is called * Mercy . 9 In all probability
a corruption or perhaps a familiarisation of the
word Mercia with a Roman pun included. We
learn from early manuscripts that the place was
called Vilula Misericordice. It was originally a
nunnery founded by Queen Bertha, but done away
with by King Penda, the reactionary to Paganism
after St Augustine. Then comes your uncle’s
place — Lesser Hill. Though it is so close to the
Castle, it is not connected with it. It is a freehold,
and, so far as we know, of equal age. It has always
belonged to your family.”

“ Then there only remains the Castle ! ”

" That is all ; but its history contains the
histories of all the others — in fact, the whole history
of early England.”

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Diana’s Grove 25

Sir Nathaniel, seeing the expectant look on
Adam’s face, went on :

“ The history of the Castle has no beginning so
far as we know. The furthest records or surmises
or inferences simply accept it as existing. Some of
these — guesses let us call them — seem to show that
there was some sort of structure there when the
Romans came, therefore it must have been a place
of importance in Druid times — if indeed that was
the beginning. Naturally the Romans accepted
it, as they did everything of the kind that was, or
might be, useful. The change is shown or inferred
in the name Castra. It was the highest protected
ground, and so naturally became the most important
of their camps. A study of the map will show you
that it must have been a most important strate-
getic centre. It both protected the advances
already made to the north, and it helped to dominate
the sea coast to the east. It sheltered the western
marches, beyond which lay savage Wales — and
danger. It provided a means of getting to the
Severn, round which lay the great Roman roads
then coming into existence, and made possible the
great waterway to the heart of England — through
the Severn and its tributaries. And it brought the
east and the west together by the swiftest and
easiest ways known to those times. And, finally,
it provided means of descent on London and all the
expanse of country watered by the Thames.

“ With such a centre, already known and organ-

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26 The Lair of the White Worm

ised, we can easily see that each fresh wave of
invasion — the Angles, the Saxons, the Danes, and
the Normans — found it a desirable possession and
so ensured its upholding. In the earlier centuries
it was merely a vantage ground. But when the
victorious Romans brought with them the heavy
solid fortifications impregnable to the weapons of
the time, its commanding position alone ensured
its adequate building and equipment. Then it
was that the fortified camp of the Csesars developed
into the castle of the king. As we are as yet
entirely ignorant of even the names of the first
kings of Mercia, no historian has been able to even
guess what king made it his ultimate defence ; and
I suppose we shall never know now. In process
of time, as the arts of war developed, it increased in
size and strength, and although recorded details are
lacking, the history is written in not merely the stone
of its building, but is inferred in the changes of
structure. Then the general sweeping changes
which followed the Norman Conquest wiped out
all lesser records than its own. To-day we must
accept it as one of the earliest castles of the Con-
quest, probably not later than the time of Henry I.
Roman and Norman were both wise in their reten-
tion of places of approved strength or utility. So
it was that these surrounding heights, already
established and to a certain extent proved, were
retained. Indeed, such characteristics as already
pertained to them were preserved and to-day afford

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Diana’s Grove 27

to us lessons regarding things which have them-
selves long since passed away.

“ So much for the fortified heights ; but the hollows
too have their own story. But how the time passes !
We must hurry home, or else your uncle will wonder
what has become of us.” As he spoke he was
hurrying with long steps towards Lesser Hill, and
Adam was furtively running to be able to keep up
with him. When they had arrived close to the
house, Sir Nathaniel said :

“ I am sorry to cut short our interesting con-
versation. But it will be only postponed. I want
to tell you, and I am sure you want to know, all that
I know of this place. And, if I am not mistaken,
our next instalment of history will be even more
interesting than the first.”

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CHAPTER IV

THE LADY ARABELLA MARCH

Breakfast had just begun when Mr Salton said :
“ Now, there is no hurry, but so soon as you are
both ready we shall start. I want to take you first
to see a remarkable relic of Mercia, and then we
shall go down to Liverpool through what is called
‘ The Great Yale of Cheshire/ You may be dis-
appointed, but take care not to prepare your mind ”
— this to Adam — “for anything stupendous or
heroic. You would not think the place you are
going through was a vale at all, unless you were told
it beforehand, and had confidence in the veracity
of the teller. We should get to the Landing Stage
in time to meet the West African. We ought to
meet Mr Caswall as he comes ashore. We want
to do him honour — and, besides, it will be more
pleasant to have the introductions over before we
go to his fete at the Castle/’

The carriage was ready, the same as was used the
previous day. The postillions, too, were the same,
but there were two pairs of different horses — magni-
ficent animals, and keen for work. Breakfast was
soon over, and they shortly took their places. The

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The Lady Arabella March 29

postillions had their orders, and they were soon on
their way at an exhilarating pace.

Presently, in obedience to Mr Salton’s signal,
the carriage drew up near Stone, opposite a great
heap of stones by the wayside. “ Here/’ he said,
“ is something that you of all men should not pass
by unnoticed. That heap of stones brings us at
once to the dawn of the Anglian kingdom. It
was begun more than a thousand years ago, in
the latter part of the seventh century, in memory
of a murder. Wulfere, King of Mercia, nephew of
Penda, here murdered his two sons for embracing
Christianity. As was the custom of the time, each
passer-by added a stone to the memorial heap.
Penda represented heathen reaction after St Augus-
tine’s mission. Sir Nathaniel can tell you as much as
you want about this, and put you, if you wish, on
the track of such accurate knowledge as there is.”

Whilst they were looking at the heap of stones,
they noticed that another carriage had drawn up
beside them, and the passenger — there was only one
— was regarding them curiously. The carriage was
an old heavy travelling one, with arms blazoned on
it gorgeously. The coronet was an earl’s, and there
were many quarterings. Seeing then the occupant
was a lady, the men took off their hats. The
occupant spoke :

“ How do you do, Sir Nathaniel ? How do you
do, Mr Salton ? I hope none of you has met with
any accident. Look at me ! ”

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30 The Lair of the White Worm

As she spoke she pointed where one of the heavy
springs was broken across, the broken metal show-
ing bright. Adam spoke up at once :

“ Oh, that will be soon put right.”

“ Soon ? I shall have to wait till we get to
Wolverhampton. There is no one near who can
mend a break like that.”

1 can.

“ You ! ” She looked incredulously at the dapper
young gentleman who spoke. “ You — why, it’s a
workman’s job.”

“ All right, I am a workman — though that is not
the only sort of work I do. Let me explain. I am
an Australian, and, as we have to move about fast,
we are all trained to farriery and such mechanics
as come into travel — and I am quite at your service.”
She said sweetly : “ I hardly know how to thank
you for your kindness, of which I gladly avail myself.
I don’t know what else I can do. My father is Lord
Lieutenant of the County, and he asked me to take
his carriage — he is abroad himself — and meet Mr
Caswall of Castra Regis, who arrives home from
Africa to-day. It is a notable home-coming; his
predecessor in the event made his entry more than
a century ago, and all the countryside want to
do him honour.” She looked at the old men and
quickly made up her mind as to the identity of the
stranger. “ You must be Mr Salton — Mr Adam
Salton of Lesser Hill. I am Lady Arabella March
of Diana’s Grove.” As she spoke she turned

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The Lady Arabella March 31

slightly to Mr Salton, who took the hint and made
a formal introduction.

So soon as this was done, Adam took some tools
from his uncle’s carriage, and at once began work on
the broken spring. He was an expert workman,
and the breach was soon made good. Adam was
gathering the tools which he had been using, and
which, after the manner of all workmen, had been
scattered about, when he noticed that several
black snakes had crawled out from the heap of
stones and were gathering round him. This
naturally occupied his mind, and he was not think-
ing of anything else when he noticed Lady Arabella,
who had opened the door of the carriage, slip from
it with a quick gliding motion. She was already
among the snakes when he called out to warn her.
But there seemed to be no need of warning. The
snakes had turned and were wriggling back to the
mound as quickly as they could. He laughed to
himself behind his teeth as he whispered, “No need
to fear there. They seem much more afraid of her
than she of them.” All the same he began to beat
on the ground with a stick which was lying close
to him, with the instinct of one used to such vermin.
In an instant he was alone beside the mound with
Lady Arabella, who appeared quite unconcerned
at the incident. Then he took a long look at her.
She was certainly good to look at in herself, and
her dress alone was sufficient to attract attention.
She was clad in some kind of soft white stuff, which

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32 The Lair of the White Worm

clung close to her form, showing to the full every
movement of her sinuous figure. She was tall and
exceedingly thin. Her eyes appeared to be weak,
for she wore large spectacles which seemed to be of
green glass. Certainly in the centre they had the
effect of making her naturally piercing eyes of a
vivid green. She wore a close-fitting cap of some
fine fur of dazzling white. Coiled round her white
throat was a large necklace of emeralds, whose
profusion of colour quite outshone the green of her
spectacles — even when the sun shone on them. Her
voice was very peculiar, very low and sweet, and so
soft that the dominant note was of sibilation.
Her hands, too, were peculiar — long, flexible, white,
with a strange movement as of waving gently to
and fro.

She appeared quite at ease, and, after thanking
Adam, said that if any of his uncle’s party were
going to Liverpool she would be most happy to
join forces. She added cordially :

“Whilst you are staying here, Mr Salton, you
must look on the grounds of Diana’s Grove as your
own, so that you may come and go just as you do
in Lesser Hill. There are some fine views and not
a few natural curiosities which are sure to interest
you. There are some views in the twilight which
are, they say, unique. And if you are a student of
natural history — specially of an earlier kind, when
the world was younger — you shall not have your
labour of discovery in vain.”

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The Lady Arabella March 33

The heartiness with which she spoke and warmth
of her words — not of her manner, which was
abnormally cold and distant — repelled him, made
him suspicious. He felt as if he was naturally
standing on guard. In the meantime both his
uncle and Sir Nathaniel had thanked her for the
invitation — of which, however, they said they were
unable to avail themselves. Adam had a sort of
suspicion that though she answered regretfully, she
was in reality relieved. When he had got into the
carriage with the two old men and they had driven
off, he was not surprised when Sir Nathaniel said :
“ I could not but feel that she was glad to be rid
of us. She can play her game better alone ! ”

“ What is her game, sir ? ” asked Adam unthink-
ingly, but the old man answered without comment :
“ All the county knows it, my boy. Caswall is
a very rich man. Her husband was rich when she
married him — or seemed to be. When he committed
suicide it was found that he had nothing at all.
Her father has a great position and a great estate
— on paper. But the latter is mortgaged up to the
hilt, and is held in male tail only, so that her only
hope is in a rich marriage. I suppose I need not
draw any conclusion. You can do that as well as
I can.”

Adam remained silent nearly all the time they
were travelling through the alleged Yale of
Cheshire. He thought much during that journey
and came to several conclusions, though his lips

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34 The Lair of the White Worm

were unmoved. One of these conclusions was that
he would be very careful about paying any attention
to Lady Arabella. He was himself a rich man, how
rich not even his uncle had the least idea, and would
have been surprised had he known. The other
resolution was that he would be very careful how
he went moonlighting in Diana’s Grove, especially
if he were unattended.

At Liverpool they went aboard the West African 9
which had just come to the landing-stage. There
his uncle introduced himself to Mr Caswall, and
followed this up by introducing Sir Nathaniel and
then Adam. The new-comer received them all
very graciously, and said what a pleasure it was on
coming home after so long an absence of his family
from their old seat, and hoped they would see much
of each other in the future. Adam was much
pleased at the warmth of the reception ; but he
could not avoid a feeling of repugnance at the man’s
face. He was trying hard to overcome this when
a diversion was caused by the arrival of Lady
Arabella. The diversion was welcome to all ; the
two Saltons and Sir Nathaniel were shocked at
Caswall’s face — so hard, so ruthless, so selfish, so
dominant. “ God help any,” was the common
thought, “ who is under the domination of such a
one ! ”

But presently his African servant approached
him, and at once their thoughts changed to a larger
toleration. For by comparison with this man his

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The Lady Arabella March 35

face seemed to have a certain nobility hitherto
lacking. Caswall looked indeed a savage — but a
cultured savage. In him were traces of the soften-
ing civilisation of ages — of some of the higher
instincts and education of man, no matter how
rudimentary these might be. But the face of
Oolanga, as his master at once called him, was pure
pristine, unreformed, unsoftened savage, with inher-
ent in it all the hideous possibilities of a lost, devil-
ridden child of the forest and the swamp — the lowest
and most loathsome of all created things which were
in some form ostensibly human.

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CHAPTER V

HOME-COMING

As Lady Arabella and Oolanga arrived almost
simultaneously, Adam began to surmise what effect
their appearance would have on each other. They
were exactly opposite in every quality of appearance,
and, so far as he could judge, of mental or moral
gifts or traits. The girl of the Caucasian type,
beautiful, Saxon blonde, with a complexion of milk
and roses, high-bred, clever, serene of nature. The
other negroid of the lowest type ; hideously ugly,
with the animal instincts developed as in the lowest
brutes ; cruel, wanting in all the mental and moral
faculties — in fact, so brutal as to be hardly human.
If Adam expected her to show any repugnance he
was disappointed. If anything, her pride heightened
into disdain. She seemed as if she would not —
could not — condescend to exhibit any concern or
interest in such a creature. On the other hand, his
bearing was such as in itself to justify her pride.
He treated her not merely as a slave treats his
master, but as a worshipper would treat a deity.
He knelt before her with his hands outstretched
and his forehead in the dust. So long as she re-

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Home-coming 37

mained he did not move ; it was only when she
went over to Caswall and spoke that he relaxed his
attitude of devotion and simply stood by respect-
fully. His dress, which was a grotesque mixture,
more than ever seemed absurd. He had on evening
dress of an ill cut, an abnormally efflorescent white
shirt with exaggerated cuffs and collar, all holding
mock jewels of various colours. In his nose was
a silver ring, and in his ears large ornaments com-
posed of trophies of teeth. He wore a tall hat,
which had once been of a shape of some kind, with
a band of gold lace. Altogether he looked like a
horrible distortion of a gentleman’s servant. All
those around grinned or openly jeered. One of the
stewards, who was carrying some of Mr Caswall’s
lighter luggage and making himself important, after
the manner of stewards to debarking passengers,
was attentive even to him.

Adam spoke to his own bailiff, Davenport, who
was standing by, having arrived with the bailiff of
Lesser Hill, who had followed Mr Salton in his own
pony trap. As he spoke he pointed to the attentive
ship’s steward, and presently the two men were
conversing.

After a little time Mr Salton said to Adam :

“ I think we ought to be moving. I have some
things to do in Liverpool, an$ I am sure that both
Mr Caswall and Lady Arabella would like to get
under weigh for Castra Regis.” To which said
Adam :

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38 The Lair of the White Worm

“ I too, sir, would like to do something. I want
to find out where Ross, the animal merchant, lives —
you know, the local Jamrach. I want to take a
small animal home with me, if you don’t mind.
He is only a little thing, and will be no trouble.”

“ Of course not, my boy. Whatever you like.
What kind of animal is it that you want ? ”

“ A mongoose.”

“ A mongoose ! What on earth do you want it
for ? ”

" To kill snakes.”

“ Good ! ” The old man remembered the mound
at Stone. No explanation was needed.

Ross, the animal merchant, had had dealings with
Adam chiefly in the way of mongooses. When he
heard what was wanted he asked :

“ Do you want something special, or will an
ordinary mongoose do ? ”

“ Well, of course I want a good one. But I see
no need for anything special. It is for ordinary
use.”

“ I can let you have a choice of ordinary ones. I
only asked because I have in stock a very special
one which I got lately from Nepaul. He has a
record of his own. He killed a king cobra that had
been seen in the Rajah’s garden. But I don’t
suppose we have any snakes of the kind in this cold
climate — I daresay an ordinary one will do.”

The bargain was effected. When Adam was coming
away with the box under his arm, he said to Ross :

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Home-coming 39

“ I don’t know anything of the snakes here. I
wouldn’t have believed there are any at all, only I
saw some to-day. I shall try this mongoose, and
if he is any good I shall be glad to keep him. But
don’t part with the other yet. I shall send you word
if I want him.”

When Adam got back to the carriage, carefully
carrying the box with the mongoose, Sir Nathaniel
said :

“ Hullo ! what have you got there ? ”

“ A mongoose.”

“ What for ? ”

“ To kill snakes ! ”

Sir Nathaniel laughed. “ Well, even as yet, it
seems you have come to the right place.”

“ How do you mean ? Why ‘ as yet ’ ? ”

“ Remember the snakes yesterday. But that is
only a beginning.”

“ A beginning ! How so ? ”

“ That, my boy, belongs to the second section
of our inquiry. It will have a direct bearing on it.”
“ You mean about the legends ? ”

“ We shall begin on them.”

“ And then ? ”

“ I heard Lady Arabella’s invitation to you to
come to Diana’s Grove in the twilight.”

“ Well, what on earth has that got to do with it ? ”
“ Nothing directly that I know of. But we shall
see.”

Adam waited, and the old man went on :

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40 The Lair of the White Worm

“ Have you by any chance heard the other name
which was given long ago to that place.”

“ No, sir.”

“ It was called Look here, this subject

wants a lot of talking over and listening. Suppose
we wait till after dinner to-night, when we shall be
alone and shall have lots of time before us.”

“ All right, sir. Let us wait ! ” Adam was
filled with curiosity, but he thought it better not
to hurry matters. All would come in good time.

His attention was then claimed by the events of
the day. Shortly the Lesser Hill party set out for
Castra Regis, and for the time he thought no more
of Diana’s Grove or of what mysteries it had con-
tained — or might still contain.

The guests were crowding in and special places
were marked for important guests. Some little
time was occupied in finding their seats. Adam,
seeing so many persons of varied degree, looked
round for Lady Arabella, but could not locate her.
It was only when he saw the old-fashioned travelling
carriage approach and heard the sound of cheering
which went with it, that he realised that Edgar
Caswall had arrived. Then, on looking more closely,
he saw that Lady Arabella, dressed as he had seen
her last, was seated beside him. When the carriage
drew up at the great flight of steps, the host
jumped down and gave her his hand and led her up
to the great dais table, and placed her in the seat
to the right of that kept for himself.

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Home-coming 41

It was evident to all that she was the chief guest
at the festivities. It was not long before the seats
on the dais were filled and the tenants and guests
of lesser importance had occupied all the coigns of
vantage not reserved. The order of the day had
been carefully arranged by the committee. There
were some speeches, happily neither many nor long ;
and then festivities were suspended till the time for
feasting had arrived. In the interval Caswall
walked among his guests, speaking to all in a friendly
manner and expressing a general welcome. The
other guests came down from the dais and followed
his example, so there was unceremonious meeting
and greeting between gentle and simple. Adam
Salton naturally followed with his eyes all that went
on within their scope, taking note of all who seemed
to afford any interest. He was young and a man
and a stranger from a far distance ; so on all these
accounts he naturally took stock rather of the
women than of the men, and of these, those who
were young and attractive. There were lots of
pretty girls among the crowd who had seemingly
no dislike to be looked at ; and Adam, who was a
handsome young man and well set up, got his full
share of admiring glances. These did not concern
him much, and he remained unmoved until there
came along a group of three, by their dress and
bearing, of the farmer class. One was a sturdy old
man; the other two were good-looking girls, one
of a little over twenty, the other not quite grown —

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42 The Lair of the White Worm

seventeen at most. So soon as Adam’s eyes met
those of the younger girl, who stood nearest to him,
some sort of electricity flashed — that divine spark
which begins by recognition and ends in obedience.
Men call it “ Love.”

Both the elders of the party noticed how much
Adam was taken by the pretty girl, and both spoke
of her to him in a way which made his heart warm
to them.

“ Did you notice that party that passed ? The
old man is Michael Watford, one of the tenants of
Mr Caswall. He occupies Mercy Farm, which Sir
Nathaniel tells me he pointed out to you to-day.
The girls are his grand-daughters, the elder, Lilia,
being the only child of his eldest son, who died when
she was less than a year old. His wife died on the
same day — in fact at the same time. She is a good
girl — as good as she is pretty. The other is her
first cousin, the daughter of Watford’s second son.
He went for a soldier when he was just over twenty,
and was drafted abroad. He was not a good corre-
spondent, though he was a good enough son. A few
letters came, and then his father heard from the
colonel of his regiment that he had been killed by
dacoits in Burmah. He heard from the same
source that his boy had been married to a Burmese,
and that there was a daughter only a year old.
Watford had the child brought home, and she grew
up beside Lilia. The only thing that they heard
of her birth was that her name was Mimi. The two

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Home-coming

children adored each other, and do to this day.
Strange how different they are ! Lilia all fair, like
the old Saxon stock she is sprung from ; Mimi
almost as dark as the darkest of her mother’s race.
Lilia is as gentle as a dove, but Mimi’s black eyes
can glow whenever she is upset. The only thing
that upsets her is when anything happens to injure
or threaten or annoy Lilia. Then her eyes glow
as do the eyes of a bird when her young are
threatened.”

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CHAPTER VI

THE WHITE WORM

Mb Salton introduced Adam to Mr Watford and
his grand-daughters, and they all moved on together.
Of course people, neighbours, in the position of the
Watfords knew all about Adam Salton, his relation-
ship, circumstances, and prospects. So it would
have been strange indeed if both girls did not see
or dream of possibilities of the future. In agricul-
tural England, eligible men of any class were rare.
This particular man was specially eligible, for he
did not belong to a class in which barriers of caste
were strong. So when it began to be noticed that
he walked beside Mimi Watford and seemed to
desire her society, all their friends seemed to give
the promising affair a helping hand. When the
gongs sounded for the banquet, he went with her
into the tent where her father had seats. Mr
Salton and Sir Nathaniel noticed that the young
man did not come to claim his appointed place at
the dais table ; but they understood and made no
remark, or indeed did not seem to notice his absence.
Lady Arabella sat as before at Edgar CaswalTs
right hand. She was certainly a very beautiful

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45

woman, and to all it seemed fitting from her rank
and personal qualities that she should be the chosen
partner of the heir on his first appearance. Of
course nothing was said openly by those of her
own class who were present; but words were not
necessary when so much could be expressed by
nods and smiles. It seemed to be an accepted
thing that at last there was to be a mistress of
Castra Regis, and that she was present amongst
them. There were not lacking some who, whilst
admitting all her charm and beauty, placed her
in only the second rank of beauty, Lilia Watford
being marked as first. There was sufficient diver-
gence of type as well as of individual beauty to
allow of fair commenting ; Lady Arabella repre-
sented the aristocratic type, and Lilia that of the
commonalty.

When the dusk began to thicken, Mr Salton and
Sir Nathaniel walked home — the trap had been
sent away early in the day, leaving Adam to follow
in his own time. He came in earlier than was
expected, and seemed upset about something.
Neither of the elders made any comment. They
all lit cigarettes, and, as dinner-time was close at
hand, went to their rooms to get ready. Adam
had evidently been thinking in the interval. He
joined the others in the drawing-room, looking
ruffled and impatient — a condition of things seen
for the first time. The others, with the patience —
or the experience— of age trusted to time to unfold

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46 The Lair of the White Worm

and explain things. They had not long to wait.
After sitting down and standing up several times,
Adam suddenly burst out :

“ That fellow seems to think he owns the earth.
Can’t he let people alone ! He seems to think that
he has only to throw his handkerchief to any
woman, and be her master.”

This outburst was in itself enlightening. Only
thwarted affection in some guise could produce this
feeling in an amiable young man. Sir Nathaniel,
as an old diplomatist, had a way of understanding,
as if by foreknowledge, the true inwardness of
things, and asked suddenly, but in a matter-of-fact,
indifferent voice :

“ Was he after Lilia ? ”

“ Yes. And he didn’t lose any time either.
Almost as soon as they met he began to butter her
up, and to tell her how beautiful she is. Why,
before he left her side he had asked himself to tea
to-morrow at Mercy Farm. Stupid ass ! He might
see that the girl isn’t his sort ! I never saw any-
thing like it. It was just like a hawk and a
pigeon.”

As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel turned and looked
at Mr Salton — a keen look which implied a full
understanding. Then the latter said quietly :

“ Tell us all about it, Adam. There are still
ten minutes before dinner, and we shall all have
better appetites when we have come to some con-
clusion on this matter.”

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Adam spoke with an unwonted diffidence :

“ There is nothing to tell, sir ; that is the worst
of it. I am bound to say that there was not a word
said that a human being could object to. He was
very civil, and all that was proper — just what a
landlord might be to a tenant’s daughter. . . . And
yet — and yet — well, I don’t know how it was, but
it made my blood simply boil.”

“ How did the hawk and the pigeon come in ? ”
Sir Nathaniel’s voice was soft and soothing, noth-
ing of contradiction or overdone curiosity in it — a
tone eminently suited to win confidence.

“ I can hardly explain it. I can only say that
he looked like a hawk and she like a dove — and, now
that I think of it, that is what they each did look
like ; and do look like in their normal condition.”

“ That is so ! ” came the soft voice of Sir
Nathaniel.

Adam went on :

“ Perhaps that early Roman look of his set me off.
But I wanted to protect her ; she seemed in danger.”
“ She seems in danger, in a way, from all you
young men. I couldn’t help noticing the way that
even you looked, as if you wished to absorb her.”
Here the kindly, temperate voice of Mr Salton
came in :

“ I hope both you young men will keep your heads
cool. You know, Adam, it won’t do to have any
quarrel between you, especially so soon after his
home-coming and your arrival here. We must

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48 The Lair of the White Worm

think of the feelings and happiness of our neighbours ;
mustn’t we ? ”

“ I hope so, sir. And I assure you that, whatever
may happen, or even threaten, I shall obey your
wishes in this as in all things.”

“ Silence ! ” whispered Sir Nathaniel, who heard
the servants in the passage bringing dinner.

After dinner, over the walnuts and the wine,
Sir Nathaniel returned to the subject of the local
legends, saying : “ It will perhaps be a less
dangerous topic for us to discuss than more recent
ones.”

“ All right, sir,” said Adam heartily. “ I think
you may depend on me now with regard to any
topic. I can even discuss with Mr Caswall. Indeed,
I may meet him to-morrow. He is going, as I said,
to call at Mercy Farm at three o’clock — but I have
an appointment at two.”

“ I notice,” said Mr Salton, “ that you do not
lose any time.”

“ No, sir. Perhaps that is the reason why the
part I came from has for its motto — ‘ Advance,
Australia ! ’ ”

“ All right, my boy. Advance is good — so
long as you take care where you are going and how.
There is a line in one of Shakespeare’s plays, ‘ They
stumble that run fast.’ It is worth bearing in
mind.”

“ All right again, sir ; but I don’t think you need
fear me now I have had my kick.”

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The two old men once more looked at each other
steadily. It was as much as to say, “ Good ! The
boy has had his lesson. He will be all right ! ”
Then, lest the mood of his listener should change
with delay, Sir Nathaniel began at once :

“ I don’t propose to tell you all the legends of
Mercia, or even to make a selection of them. It
will be better, I think, for our purpose if we consider
a few facts — recorded or unrecorded — about this
neighbourhood. I shall try to remember, and you,
Adam, shall ask me questions as we go along. We
all want stimulation to memory. When we have
nothing amongst us to remember it will be time
enough to invent. I propose to go on where we
left off yesterday morning, about the few places
round here that we spoke of. I think we might
begin with Diana’s Grove. It has roots in the
different epochs of our history, and each has, be sure,
its special crop of legend. The Druid and the
Roman are too far off for matters of detail ; but
it seems to me the Saxon and the Angles are near
enough to yield material for legendary lore. If
there were anything well remembered of an earlier
period, we may take it that it had some beginning
in what was accepted as fact. We find that this
particular place had another name or sobriquet
besides Diana’s Grove. This was manifestly of
Roman origin, or of Grecian accepted as Roman.
The former is more pregnant of adventure and
romance than the Roman name. In Mercian

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50 The Lair of the White Worm

tongue it was ‘ The Lair of the White Worm.’
This needs a word of explanation at the beginning.

“ In the dawn of the language, the word * worm 9
had a somewhat different meaning from that in use
to-day. It was an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon
4 wyrm, 5 meaning primarily a dragon or snake ; or
from the Gothic 4 waurms,’ a serpent ; or the Ice-
landic 4 ormur/ or the German 4 wurm/ We gather
that it conveyed originally an idea of size and power,
not as now in the diminutive of both these meanings.
Here legendary history helps us. We have the
well-known legend of the 4 Worm Well 9 of Lamb-
ton Castle, and that of the 4 Laidly Worm of Spind-
leston Heugh ’ near Bamborough. In both these
legends the 4 worm ’ was a monster of vast size
and power — a veritable dragon or serpent, such as
legend attributes to vast fens or quags where there
was illimitable room for expansion. A glance at
a geological map will show that whatever truth
there may have been of the actuality of such
monsters in the early geologic periods, at least
there was plenty of possibility. In the eastern
section of England there were originally vast
plains where the naturally plentiful supply of water
could gather. There the streams were deep and
slow, and there were holes of abysmal depth, where
any kind and size of antediluvian monster could
find a habitat. In places, which now we can see
from our windows, were mud-holes a hundred or
more feet deep. Who can tell us when the age of

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The White Worm 51

the monsters which flourished in slime came to an
end ? If such a time there was indeed, its limits
could only apply to the vast number of such dangers.
There must have been times and places and condi-
tions which made for greater longevity, greater
size, greater strength than was usual. Such over-
lappings may have come down even to our earlier
centuries. Nay, are there not now creatures of a
vastness of bulk regarded by the generality of men
as impossible ? Even in our own day there are
here and there seen the traces of animals, if not the
animals themselves, of stupendous size — veritable
survivals from earlier ages, preserved by some
special qualities in their habitats. I remember
meeting a distinguished man in India, who had the
reputation of being a great shikaree, who told me
that the greatest temptation he had ever had in
his life was to shoot a giant snake which he had
literally come across in the Terai of Upper India.
He was on a tiger-shooting expedition, and as his
elephant was crossing a nullah it squealed. He
looked down from his howdah and saw that the
elephant had stepped across the body of a snake
which was dragging itself through the jungle. * So
far as I could see/ he said, ‘ it must have been
eighty or one hundred feet in length. Fully forty
or fifty feet was on each side of the track, and
though the weight which it dragged had thinned
it to its least, it was as thick round as a man’s
body. I suppose you know that when you are

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52 The Lair of the White Worm

after tiger, it is a point of honour not to shoot at
anything else, as life may depend on it. I could
easily and with safety have spined this monster,
but I felt that I must not — and so with regret I
had to let it go.’

“ Just imagine such a monster anywhere in this
country, and at once we could get a sort of idea of
the ‘ worms/ which possibly did frequent the great
morasses which spread round the mouths of any
of the great European rivers/’

Adam had been thinking ; at last he spoke :

“ I haven’t the least doubt, sir, that there may
have been such monsters as you have spoken of still
existing at a much later period than is generally
accepted. Also, that if there were such things,
that this was the very place for them. I have
tried to think over the matter since you pointed
out the configuration of the ground. But if you
will not be offended by my expressing — not indeed
a doubt, but a difficulty — it seems to me that there
is a hiatus somewhere.”

“ Where ? What kind ? Tell me frankly, where
is your difficulty. You know I am always glad of
an honest opinion in any difficulty.”

“ Well, sir, all that you say may be, probably is,
true. But are there not mechanical difficulties ? ”
“ As how ? ”

“ Well, our antique monster must have been
mighty heavy, and the distances he had to travel
were long and the ways difficult. From where we

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53

are now sitting down to the level of the mud-holes
even the top of them is a distance of several hundred
feet — I am leaving out of consideration altogether
for the present lateral distance. Is it possible that
there was a way by which a monster such as you
have spoken of could travel up and down, and yet
no chance recorder have ever seen him ? Of course
we have the legends ; but is not some more exact
evidence necessary in a scientific investigation ? ”
“ My dear Adam, all you say is perfectly right,
and, were we starting on just such an investigation,
we could not do better than follow your reasoning.
But, my dear boy, you must remember that all
this took place thousands of years ago. You must
remember, too, that all records of the kind that
would help us are lacking. Also, that the places to
be considered were absolutely desert so far as human
habitation or population are considered. In the
vast desolation of such a place as complied with the
necessary conditions there must have been such pro-
fusion of natural growth as would bar the progress of
men formed as we are. The lair of such a monster
as we have in mind would not have been disturbed
for hundreds — or thousands — of years. Moreover,
these creatures must have occupied places quite
inaccessible to man. A snake who could make
himself comfortable in a quagmire a hundred feet
deep would be protected even on the outskirts by
such stupendous morasses as now no longer exist,
or which, if they exist anywhere at all, can be on

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54 The Lair of the White Worm

very few places on the earth’s surface. Far be it
from me to say, or even to think for a moment,
that in more elemental times such things could not
have been. The condition of things we speak of
belongs to the geologic age — the great birth and
growth of the world, when natural forces ran riot,
when the struggle for existence was so savage that
no vitality which was not founded in a gigantic form
could have even a possibility of survival. That
such a time was we have evidences in geology, but
there only. We can never expect proofs such as
this age demands. We can only imagine or surmise
such things — or such conditions and such forces as
overcame them.”

“ Come, let us get to bed,” said Mr Salton. “ Like
you both, I enjoy the conversation. But one thing
is certain : we cannot settle it before breakfast.”

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CHAPTER VII

HAWK AND PIGEON

At breakfast-time next morning Sir Nathaniel and
Mr Salton were seated when Adam came hurriedly
into the room.

“ Any news ?” asked his uncle mechanically.

“ Four.”

“ Four what ? ” asked Sir Nathaniel.

“ Snakes,” said Adam, helping himself to a grilled
kidney.

“ Four snakes. How ? I don’t understand.”

“ Mongoose,” said Adam, and then added explana-
torily : “ I was out with the mongoose just after
three.”

“ Four snakes in one morning ! Why, I didn’t
know there were so many on the Brow ” — the local
name for the western cliff. “ I hope that wasn’t the
consequence of our talk of last night ? ”

“ It was, sir. But not directly.”

“ But, God bless my soul, you didn’t expect to
get a snake like the Lambton worm, did you ?
Why, a mongoose to tackle a monster like that — if
there were one — would have to be bigger than a
haystack.”

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56 The Lair of the White Worm

“ These were ordinary snakes, only about as big
as a walking-stick.”

“ Well, it's well to be rid of them, big or little.
That is a good mongoose, I suppose ; he’ll clear out
all such vermin round here,” said Mr Salton.

Adam went quietly on with his breakfast. Killing
a few snakes in a morning was no new experience to
him. He left the room the moment breakfast was
finished and went to the study that his uncle had
arranged for him. Both Sir Nathaniel and Mr Salton
took it that he wanted to be by himself as so to avoid
any questioning or talk of the visit that he was to
make that afternoon. He stayed by himself either
in the house or walking, till about half an hour before
dinner-time. Then he came quietly into the smok-
ing-room, where Mr Salton and Sir Nathaniel were
sitting together ready dressed. He too was dressed,
and the old diplomatist noticed that his hand was,
if possible, more steady than usual. He had
actually shaved himself when making his toilet, but
there was no sign of a cut or even of a quiver of the
hand. Sir Nathaniel smiled to himself quietly as
he said under his voice :

“ He is all right. That is a sign there is no
mistaking — for a man in love. He certainly was
in love yesterday ; and one way or another, if he can
get rid of, or overcome, troubles of the heart like
that, I think we needn’t have any special appre-
hension about him.” So he resumed the magazine
which he had been reading.

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Hawk and Pigeon

After a few minutes of silence all round, Adam
gave further evidence of his aplomb. He suddenly
said, looking at the others :

“ I suppose there is no use waiting. We had
better get it over at once.”

His uncle, thinking to make things easier to him,
said :

“ Get what over 1 ”

There was a sign of shyness about him at this.
He stammered a little at first, but his voice became
more even as he went on :

“ My visit to Mercy Farm.”

Mr Salton waited eagerly. The old diplomatist
simply smiled easily.

“ I suppose you both know that I was much
interested yesterday in the Watfords ? ” There
was no denial or fending off the question. Both the
old men smiled acquiescence. Adam went on :
“I meant you to see it — both of you. You,
unole, because you are my uncle and the nearest
thing to me on earth — of my own kin, and, more-
over, you couldn’t have been more kind to me or
made me more welcome if you had been my own
father.” Mr Salton said nothing. He simply held
out his hand, and the other took it and held it
for a few seconds. “ And you, sir, because you
have shown me something of the same affection
which in my wildest dreams of home I had no
right to expect.” He stopped for an instant, much
moved.

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58 The Lair of the White Worm

Sir Nathaniel said softly, laying his hand on the
boy’s shoulder :

“ You are right, my boy ; quite right. That is the
proper way to look at it. And I may tell you that we
old men, who have no children of our own, feel our
hearts growing warm when we hearwords like those.”
Then Adam hurried on, speaking with a rush, as
if he wanted to come to the crucial point :

“ Mr Watford had not come in, but Lilia and
Mimi were at home, and they made me feel very
welcome. They have all a great regard for my uncle.
I am glad of that any way, for I like them all — much.
We were having tea when Mr Caswall came to
the door, attended by the Christy Minstrel.”

“ The Christy Minstrel ! ” repeated Sir Nathaniel.
His voice sounded simply as an acknowledgment,
not as a comment of any kind.

“ Lilia opened the door herself. The window of
the living-room at the farm, as of course you know,
is a large one, and from within you cannot help
seeing anyone coming. Mr Caswall said he ven-
tured to call, as he wished to make the acquaintance
of all his tenants in a less formal way and more
individually than had been possible to him on the
previous day. The girls made him very welcome.
They are very sweet girls those, sir. Someone will
be very happy some day there — with either of them.”
“ And that man may be you, Adam,” said Mr
Salton heartily.

A sad look came over the young man’s eyes, and

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Hawk and Pigeon 59

the fire his uncle had seen there died out. Likewise
the timbre had left his voice, making it sound dread-
fully lonely as he spoke :

“ Such might crown my life. But that happiness,
I fear, is not for me, or not without pain and loss
and woe.”

“ Well, it’s early days yet ! ” said Sir Nathaniel
heartily.

The young man turned on him his eyes, which
had now grown excessively sad, as he answered :

“ Yesterday — a few hours ago — that remark
would have given me new hope — new courage ;
but since then I have learned too much.”

The old man, skilled in the human heart, did not
attempt to argue in such a matter. He simply
varied the idea and went on :

“ Too early to give in, my boy.”

“ I am not of a giving-in kind,” said the young
man earnestly. “ But, after all, it is wise to realise
a truth. And when a man, though he is young,
feels as I do — as I have felt ever since yesterday,
when I first saw Mimi’s eyes — his heart jumps. He
does not need to learn things. He knows.”

There was silence in the room, during which the
twilight stole on imperceptibly. It was Adam who
again broke the silence as he asked his uncle :

“ Do you know, uncle, if we have any second
sight in our family ? ”

“Second sight! No, not that I ever heard of.
Why ? ”

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“ Because,” he answered slowly, “ I have a
conviction over me which seems to answer all the
conditions of second sight that I have ever heard
of.”

“ And then ? ” asked the old man, much perturbed.

“ And then the usual inevitable. What in the
Hebrides and other places, where the Sight is a cult —
a belief — is called ‘the doom’ — the court from
which there is no appeal. I have often heard of
second sight — you know we have many western
Scots in Australia ; but I have realised more of its
true inwardness in an instant of this afternoon than
I did in the whole 'of my life previously — a granite
wall stretching up to the very heavens, so high and
so dark that the eye of God Himself cannot see
beyond. Well, if the Doom must come, it must.
That is all.”

The voice of Sir Nathaniel broke in, smooth and
sweet and grave, but very, very stern :

“ Can there not be a fight for it ? There can for
most things.”

“ For most things, yes. But for the Doom, no.
What a man can do I shall do. There will be —
must be — a fight. When and where and how I know
not. But a fight there will be. But, after all, what
is a man in such a case ? ”

“ A man ! Adam, there are three of us.” He
looked at his old friend as he spoke, and that old
friend’s eyes blazed.

“ Ay, three of us,” he said, and his voice rang.

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“ He 1{ept his eyes fixed on Lilia”

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Hawk and Pigeon

There was again a pause, and Sir Nathaniel,
anxious to get {mck to less emotional and more
neutral ground, said quietly :

“ Tell us of the rest of the meeting. Omit no
detail. It may be useful. Remember we are all
pledged to this. It is a fight & Voutrance, and we can
afford to throw away or forgo no chance.”

Adam said quietly, looking at him :

“ We shall throw away or lose nothing that
we can help. We fight to win, and the stake is a
life — perhaps more than one — we shall see.” Then
he went on in a conversational tone, such as he had
used when he spoke of the coming to the farm of
Edgar Caswall : “ When Mr Caswall came in the
Christy Minstrel touched his ridiculous hat and went
away — at least, he went a short distance and there
remained. It gave one the idea that he expected
to be called and intended to remain in sight, or
within hail. Then Mimi got another cup and made
fresh tea, and we all went on together.”

“ Was there anything uncommon — were you all
quite friendly ? ” asked Sir Nathaniel quietly.
Adam answered at once :

“ Quite friendly. There was nothing that I
could notice out of the common — except,” he went
on, with a slight hardening of the voice, “ except
that he kept his eyes fixed on Lilia in a way which
was quite intolerable to any man who might hold
her dear.”

“ Now, in what way did he look ? ” asked Sir

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62 The Lair of the White Worm

Nathaniel. “ I am not doubting. I only ask for
information.”

“ I can hardly say,” was the answer. “ There
was nothing in itself offensive ; but no one could
help noticing it.”

“ You did. Miss Watford herself, who was the
victim, and Mr Caswall, who was the offender, are
out of range as witnesses. Was there anyone else
who noticed ? ”

“ Mimi did. I tell you her face flamed with
anger as she saw the look.”

“ What kind of look was it ? Over-ardent or too
admiring, or what ? Was it the look of a lover or
one who fain would be ? You understand ? ”

“ Yes, sir, I quite understand. Anything of
that sort I should of course notice. It would be
part of my preparation for keeping my self-control —
to which I am pledged.”

“ If it were not amatory, was it threatening ?
Where was the offence ? ”

Adam smiled kindly at the old man :

“ It was not amatory. Even if it was, such was
to be expected. I should be the last man in the
world to object, since I am myself an offender in that
respect. Moreover, not only have I been taught
to fight fair, but by nature I really believe I am
just. I would be as tolerant of and as liberal to a
rival if he were one as I should expect him to be to
me. No, the look I mean was nothing of that kind.
And so long as it did not lack proper respect I

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Hawk and Pigeon 63

should not of my own part condescend to notice it.
I shall try to describe it to you. Did you ever
seriously study the eyes of a hound ? ”

“ At rest ? ”

“ No, when he is following his instincts ! Or,
better still,” Adam went on, “ the eyes of a bird of
prey when he is following his instincts. Not when
he is swooping, but merely when he is watching his
quarry ? ”

“ No,” said Sir Nathaniel, “ I don’t know that
I ever did. Why, may I ask ? ”

“ That was the look. Certainly not amatory or
anything of that kind — and yet it was, it struck me,
more dangerous, if not so deadly as an actual
threatening.”

Again there was a silence, which Sir Nathaniel
broke as he stood up :

“ I think it would be well if we all thought over
this by ourselves. Then we can renew the subject.”

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CHAPTER Vin

OOLANGA

Mb Salton had an appointment for six o’clock at
Walsall. When he had driven off, Sir Nathaniel
took Adam by the arm and said to him :

“ May I come with you for a while to your study ?
I want to speak to you privately without your uncle
knowing about it, or even what the subject is. You
don’t mind, do you ? It is not any idle curiosity.
No, no. It is on the subject to which we are all
committed.”

Adam said with some constraint :

“ Is it necessary to 'keep my uncle in the dark
about it ? He might be offended.”

“ It is not necessary ; but it is advisable. It is
for his sake that I asked. My friend is an old man,
and it might concern him unduly — even alarm him.
I promise you there shall be nothing that could
cause him anxiety in our silence, or at which he
could take umbrage.”

“ Go on, sir ! ” said Adam simply.

When they were locked into the study he spoke :
“ You see, your uncle is now an old man. I know
it, for we were boys together. He has led an

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Oolanga 65

uneventful and somewhat self-contained life, so that
any such condition of things as has now arisen is
apt to perplex him from its very strangeness. In
fact; any new matter is trying to old people. It
has its own disturbances and its own anxieties, and
neither of these things are good for lives that should
be restful. Your uncle is a strong man with a
very happy and placid nature. Given health and
ordinary conditions of life, there is no reason why
he should not live to be a hundred. You and I there-
fore, who both love him, though in different ways,
should make it our business to protect him from all
disturbing influences. Such care shall undoubtedly
add to the magnitude of his span of life and the
happiness of his days. I am sure you will agree
with me that any labour to this end would be well
spent. All right, my boy ! I see your answer in
your eyes ; so we need say no more of that. And
now,” here his voice changed, “ tell me all that took
place at that interview. You cannot be too ex-
haustive. Nothing is too trivial. There are strange
things in front of us — how strange we cannot at
present even guess. Doubtless some of the difficult
things to understand which lie behind the veil will
in time be shown to us to see and understand. In
the meantime, all we can do is to think and work
patiently, fearlessly, and unselfishly to an end that
we think is right. Tell me as well as you can — I
shall try to help you. You had just got so far as
where Lilia opened the door to Mr Caswall, and the

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66 The Lair of the White Worm

Christy Minstrel, who had followed him, went a
little distance away and lurked. You also observed
that Mimi was disturbed in her mind at the way
Mr Caswall looked at her cousin/'

“ Certainly — though ‘ disturbed in her mind ’
is only a poor way of expressing her objection."

“ Can you remember well enough to describe
Caswall’s eyes, and how Lilia looked, and what
Mimi said and did ? Also of the Christy Minstrel,
who is, I take it, Oolanga, CaswalTs West African
servant. When you have said all you know of
these things I want you to tell me what you have
heard in any way about the ‘ Christy Minstrel.’
I take it this will be the most humorous way of
bringing him in. Though indeed I doubt his being
in any conceivable way a subject of humour.
Tragedy would more probably be a follower in his
train."

“ I’ll do what I can, sir. All the time Mr Cas-
wall was staring he kept his eyes fixed and motion-
less — but not as if he was dead or in a trance. His
forehead was wrinkled up as it is when one is trying
to see through or into something. At the best of
times his face i& not of very equable or of gentle
expression ; but when it was screwed up like that
it was almost diabolical. It frightened poor Lilia
so that she trembled, and after a bit got so pale
that I thought she had fainted. However, she
held up and tried to stare back, but in a feeble
kind of way. Then Mimi came close and held her

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Oolanga 67

hand. That braced her up, and — still, never ceasing
her return stare — she got colour again and seemed
more like herself.”

“ Did he stare too ? ”

“ More than ever. The weaker Lilia seemed
the stronger he seemed to 'get, just as if he was
feeding on her strength. All at once she turned
round, threw up her hands, and fell down in a faint.
I could not see what else happened just then, for
Mimi had thrown herself on her knees beside her
and hid her from me. Then there was something
like a black shadow between us, and there was the
pleasing form of the Christy Minstrel, looking more
like a malignant devil than ever. He had better
look out. I am not usually a patient man, and
the sight of that ugly devil is enough to make an
Eskimo’s blood boil. When he saw my face he
seemed to realise danger — immediate danger —
and he slunk out of the room as noiselessly as if he
had been blown out. I learned one thing, however.
He is an enemy, if ever a man had one.”

“ That still leaves us three to two ! ” — this from
Sir Nathaniel.

“ Then Caswall slunk out much as the nigger had
done. When he had gone, Lilia recovered at once.
I hope I won’t see Mr Christy look at Lilia again ! ”
As he spoke he took a nickel-plated revolver from
his pocket and put it back again with an ominous
remark : “ I don’t know if he wishes to be buried
on English soil. He can have his choice if he likes.

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68 The Lair of the White Worm

Ordinarily speaking, he isn’t worth a cartridge;

but when there is a lady in the case ” The

revolver clicked.

“ Now,” said Sir Nathaniel, anxious to restore
peace, “ have you found out anything yet regard-
ing your friend the Christy Minstrel ? I am
anxious to be posted regarding him. I fear there
will be, or may be, grave trouble with him.”

“ Yes, sir, I’ve heard a good deal about him— of
course it is not official ; but then hearsay may
guide us at first. You know my man Davenport,
I think. He really is my alter ego — private
secretary, confidential man of business, and general
factotum. He came with me in a journey of ex-
ploration across the desert. He saved my life many
times. He is devoted to me, and has my full
confidence. I asked him to go on board the West
African and have a good look round, and find out
what he could about Mr Caswall. Naturally, he
was struck with the aboriginal savage. He found
one of the ship’s stewards who had been on the
regular voyages to South Africa. He knew Oolanga
and had made a study of him. He is a man who
gets on well with niggers, and they opened their
hearts to him. It seems that this Oolanga is quite
a great person in the nigger world of the African
West Coast. He has the two things which men of
his own colour respect : he can make them afraid,
and he is lavish with money. I don’t know whose
money — but that does not matter. They are always

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Oolanga 69

ready to trumpet his greatness. Evil greatness it
is — but neither does that matter. Briefly, this is
his history. He was originally a witch-finder —
about as low an occupation as exists amongst even
aboriginal savages, amongst the mangrove swamps.
Then he got up in the world and became an Obi-man,
which gives an opportunity to wealth via black-
mail. Finally, he reached the highest honour in
hellish service. He became a user of Voodoo,
which seems to be a service of the utmost baseness
and cruelty. I was told some of his deeds of cruelty,
which are simply sickening. They made me long
for an opportunity of helping to drive him back to
hell. You might think to look at him that you
could measure in some way the extent of his vile-
ness ; but it would be a vain hope. Monsters such
as he is belong to an earlier and more rudimentary
stage of barbarism. Whoever kills him when the
time comes will not have to fear punishment, but
to expect praise. He is in his way a clever fellow —
for a nigger ; but is none the less dangerous or the
less hateful for that. The men in the ship told me
that he was a collector : some of them had seen his
collections. Such collections ! All that was potent
for evil in bird or beast, or even in fish. Beaks
that could break and rend and tear. All the
birds represented were of a predatory kind. Even
the fishes are those which are born to destroy, to
wound, to torture. The collection, I assure you,
was an object lesson in human malignity. This

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70 The Lair of the White Worm

being has enough evil in his face to frighten even
a strong man. It is little wonder that the sight of
it unexpectedly put that poor girl into a dead faint !
If that other savage intends to keep him round
here they may build a new prison at once ; for there
won’t be a decent man or woman in his neighbour-
hood that won’t be a criminal at the very start, if
indeed it be a crime to destroy such a thing.”
Adam was up in the early morning and took a
smart walk round the Brow. As he was passing
Diana’s Grove he looked in on the short avenue of
trees, and noticed the snakes killed on the previous
morning by the mongoose. They all lay in a row,
straight and rigid, as if they had been placed by
hands. Their skins seemed all damp and sticky,
and they were covered all over with ants and all
sorts of insects. They looked loathsome, so after
a glance he passed on. A little later, when his
steps took him, naturally enough, past the entrance
to Mercy Farm, he was passed by the Christy
Minstrel moving quickly under the trees wherever
there was shadow. Laid across one extended arm,
and looking like dirty towels across a rail, he had
the horrid-looking snakes. He did not seem to
see Adam, to the pleasant surprise of the latter.
No one was to be seen at Mercy except a few work-
men in the farmyard. So, after waiting round on
a chance of seeing Mimi, he began to go slowly home.
Once more he was passed on the way. This time
it was by Lady Arabella, walking hurriedly and

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Oolanga 7 1

so furiously angry that she did not seem to recog-
nise him even to the extent of acknowledging his
bow. He wondered, but simply went on his way.
When he got to Lesser Hill, he went to the coach-
house where the box with the mongoose was kept,
and took it with him, intending to finish at the
Mound of Stone what he had begun the previous
morning with regard to the extermination. He
found that the snakes were even more easily
attacked than on the previous day ; no less than
six were killed in the first half-hour. As no more
appeared, he took it for granted that the morning’s
work was over, and went towards home. The
mongoose had by this time become accustomed
to him, and was willing to let himself be handled
freely. Adam lifted him up and put him on his
shoulders and walked on. Presently he saw a
lady advancing towards him, and as they grew
nearer recognised Lady Arabella. Hitherto the
mongoose had been quiet, like a playful affec-
tionate kitten ; but when the two got close he
was horrified to see the mongoose, in a state of
the wildest fury, with every hair standing on end,
jump from his shoulder and run towards Lady
Arabella. It looked so furious and so intent on
attack that he called out :

“ Look out — look out ! The animal is furious
and means to attack.”

She looked more than ever disdainful and was
passing on ; the mongoose jumped at her in a furious

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72 The Lair of the White Worm

attack. Adam rushed forward with his stick, the
only weapon he had. But just as he got within
striking distance the lady drew out a revolver and
shot the animal, breaking his backbone. Not satis-
fied with this, she poured shot after shot into him
till the magazine was exhausted. There was no
coolness or hauteur about her now. She seemed
more furious even than the animal, her face trans-
formed with hate, and as determined to kill as he
had appeared to be. Adam, not knowing exactly
what to do, lifted his hat in apology and hurried
on to Lesser Hill.

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CHAPTER IX

SURVIVALS

At breakfast Sir Nathaniel noticed that Adam was
put out about something. But he said nothing.
The lesson of silence is better remembered in age
than in youth. When they were both in the study,
where Sir Nathaniel had followed him, Adam at
once began to tell his companion of what had
happened. Sir Nathaniel looked graver and graver
as the narration proceeded, and when Adam had
stopped he remained silent for several minutes.
At last he said :

“ This is very grave. I have not formed my
thought yet ; but it seems to me at first impression
that this is worse than anything we had thought
of.”

“ Why, sir ? ” said Adam. “ Is the killing of a
mongoose — no matter by whom — so serious a thing
as all that ? ”

The other smoked on quietly for quite another
few minutes before he spoke.

“ When I have properly thought it over I may
moderate my opinion. But in the meantime it
seems to me that there is something dreadful

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74 The Lair of the White Worm

behind all this — something that may affect all our
lives — that may mean the issue of life or death to
any of us.”

Adam sat up quickly.

“ Do tell me, sir, what is in your mind — if, of
course, you have no objection to, or do not think it
better not.”

“ I have no objection, Adam. In fact, if I had,
I should have to overcome it. I fear there can be
no more hidden or reserved thoughts between us.”
“ Indeed, sir, that sounds serious, worse than
serious ! ”

Again they both resumed their cigars, and pre-
sently Sir Nathaniel said gravely :

“ Adam, I greatly fear the time has come for us —
for you and me, at all events — to speak out plainly
to one another. Does not there seem something
very mysterious about this ? ”

“ I have thought so, sir, all along. The only diffi-
culty one has is what one is to think and where to
begin.”

“ Let us begin with what you have told me.
First take the conduct of the mongoose.”

Adam waited ; the other went on :

“ He was quiet, even friendly and affectionate
with you. He only attacked the snakes, which is,
after all, only his business in life.”

" That is so ! ”

“ Then we must try to find out or imagine some
reason why he attacked Lady Arabella.”

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Survivals 75

“ I fear we shall have to imagine ; there is no
logical answer to that question.”

“ Then let us imagine. He had not shown any
disposition hitherto to attack strangers ? ”

“ No ; the opposite. He made friends at once
with everyone he came across.”

“ Then even if his action is based on instinct, why
does he single out one person in such a way ? ”

“ In that, sir, I see a difficulty, or, if you will
permit me, it may be only a flaw in your reasoning.”
“ Permit ! I shall be glad. Go on.”

“ It seems to me that you take ‘ instinct ’ as a
definite fixed thing concerning which there can be
only one reading — even by the brute creation.”

“ Go on, Adam. This is very interesting.”

* * We both may have erred in our idea of ‘ instinct/
May it not be that a mongoose may have merely the
instinct to attack, that nature does not allow or
provide him with the fine reasoning powers to dis-
criminate who he is to attack ? *

“ Good ! Of course that may be so. But then,
on the other hand, should we not satisfy ourselves
why he does wish to attack anything? If for
centuries in all parts of the world this particular
animal is known to attack only one kind of
other animal, are we not justified in assuming that
when a case strange to us comes before us, if one of
the first class attacks a hitherto unclassed animal,
he recognises in that animal some quality which it
has in common with the hitherto classed animal ? ”

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76 The Lair of the White Worm

“ That is a good argument, sir,” Adam went on,
“ but a dangerous one. If we followed it out with
pure logic it would lead us to believe that Lady
Arabella is a snake. And I doubt if we — either of
us — are prepared to go so far.”

“ So far as I am concerned I am to follow blindly
the lead of logic. But before doing so we have a
duty to fulfil.’

“ What is that duty, sir ? ”

“ The first of all duties, truth. We must be sure
before going to such an end that there is no point
as yet unconsidered which would account for the
unknown thing which puzzles us.”

“ As how ? ”

“ Well, suppose the instinct works on some
physical basis — sight, for instance, or smell. If
there were anything in recent juxtaposition to the
accused which would look like the cause or would
carry the scent, surely that would supply the missing
cause. ’

“ Of course ! ” Adam spoke with conviction.

Sir Nathaniel went on :

“ Now, from what you tell me, your Christy Min-
strel friend had just come from the direction of
Diana’s Grove carrying the dead snakes, which the
mongoose had killed the previous morning. Might
not the scent have been carried that way ? ”

“ Of course it might, probably was. I never
thought of that. Look here, sir, I really think it
will be prudent of us not to draw final conclusions

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77

till we know more. At any rate that episode has
a suggestive hint for us — one which we can follow
up without saying anything to anybody. Then we
shall be in a safer position for going on.”

“ Good and sensible ! ” Sir Nathaniel spoke
approvingly ; and so it was tacitly arranged between
the two to wait.

But whilst they were sitting in silence an idea
struck Adam, and he thought it wise to make it
known to the elder man.

“ Two things I want to ask you, if I may. One
is a sort of corollary to the other.” Sir Nathaniel
listened. He went on : “ Is there any possible way
of even guessing approximately how long a scent
will remain? You see, this is a natural scent, and
may derive from a place where it has been effective
for thousands of years. Then, does a scent of any
kind carry with it any form or quality of another
kind, either good or evil ? I ask you because one
ancient name of the house lived in by the lady who
was attacked by the mongoose was ‘ The Lair of
the White Worm.’ If any of these things be so,
our possibilities of knowledge and our difficulties
have multiplied indefinitely. They may even
change in kind. We may get into even moral
entanglements ; before we know it we may be even
in the midst of a bedrock struggle between good and
evil.”

Sir Nathaniel, after a pause, asked :

“ Is that the question you wished to ask me ? ”

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78 The Lair of the White Worm

“ Yes, sir.”

Sir Nathaniel smiled gravely.

“ I don’t see on what the corollary rests. With
regard to the first question— or the first part, though,
so far as I know, there are no fixed periods with
which a scent may be active — I think we may take
it that that period does not run into thousands of
years. As to whether any moral change accom-
panies a physical one, I can only say that I have met
no argument of proof or even no assertion of the
fact. At the same time, we must remember that
‘ good ’ and ‘ evil ’ are terms so wide as to take in
the whole scheme of creation and all that is implied
by them and by their mutual action and reaction.
Generally, I would say that in the scheme of a
First Cause anything is possible. So long as the
inherent forces or tendencies of any one thing are
veiled from us we must expect mystery. This
hides from us more than we at first conceive, and
as time goes on and some light gets into the darker
places, we are able to understand that there are other
darknesses. And so on, until the time shall .come
when the full light of understanding beats upon us.”
“ Then I presume, sir,” said Adam, “ that it
would be at least wise of us to leave these questions
alone till we know more.”

“ Most certainly. To listen and remember should
be our guiding principle in such an inquiry.”

“ There is one other question on which I should
like to ask your opinion. It is the last of my general

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79

questions — for the present. Suppose that there are
any permanent forces appertaining to the past,
what we may call ‘ survivals/ do these belong to
good as well as to evil ? For instance, if the scent of
the primaeval monster can so remain in proportion
to the original strength, can the same be true of
things of good import ? ”

Sir Nathaniel thought a while, then he answered :
“ We must be careful from the beginning not to
confuse the physical and the moral, ^'differentiate
the two and to keep them differentiated. I can
see that already you have switched on the moral
entirely, so perhaps we had better follow it up first.
On the side of the moral we have certain justifica-
tion for belief in the utterances of revealed religion.
For instance, * the effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much 9 is altogether for
good. We have nothing of a similar kind on the
side of evil. But if we accept this dictum we need
have no more fear of ‘ mysteries ’ : these become
thenceforth merely obstacles.”

Adam waited in silence, which was intended to be,
and was, respectful. Then he suddenly changed to
another phase of the subject.

“ And now, sir, may I turn for a few minutes to
purely practical things, or rather to matters of
historical fact ? 99

Sir Nathaniel bowed acquiescence. He went on :
“ We have already spoken of the history, so far
as it is known, of some of the places round us —

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‘ Castra Regis/ ‘ Diana’s Grove ’ and * The Lair of
the White Worm.' I would like to ask if there is
anything not necessarily of evil import about any
of the places ? ”

“ Which ? ” asked Sir Nathaniel shrewdly.

“ Well, for instance, this house and Mercy
Farm ? ”

“ Here we turn,” said Sir Nathaniel, “ to the other
side, the light side of things. Let us take Mercy
Farm first. You have no objection ? ”

“ Thank you, sir.” The young man’s comment
was complete and illuminative.

“ Perhaps we had better remember the history
of that particular place. The details may later on
help us in coming to some useful, or at all events
interesting, conclusion.

“ When Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory to
Christianise England in the time of the Romans, he
was received and protected by Ethelbert, King of
Kent, whose wife, daughter of Charibert, King of
Paris, was a Christian, and did much for Augustine.
She founded a nunnery in memory of Columba,
which was named Bedes misericordice , the House of
Mercy, and, as the region was Mercian, the two
names became inextricably involved. As Columba
is the Latin for dove, the dove became a sort of
signification of the nunnery. She seized on the
idea and made the newly-founded nunnery a house
of doves. Someone sent her a freshly-discovered
dove, a sort of carrier, but which had in the white

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feathers of its head and neck the form of a religious
cowl. And so in especial the bird became the
symbol of the nuns of Mercy. The nunnery
flourished for more than a century, when, in the time
of Penda, who was the reactionary of heathendom,
it fell into decay. In the meantime the doves,
which, protected by religious feeling, had increased
mightily, were known in all Catholic communities.
When King Offa ruled in Mercia about a hundred
and fifty years later, he restored Christianity, and
under its protection the nunnery of St Columba was
restored and its doves flourished again. In process
of time this religious house again fell into desuetude ;
but before it disappeared it had achieved a great
name for good works, and in especial for the piety
of its members. I think I see now where your
argument leads. I do not know if you started it,
having thought it out to the full. But in any case
I will venture an opinion ; that if deeds and prayers
and hopes and earnest thinking leave anywhere any
moral effect, Mercy Farm and all around it have
almost the right to be considered holy ground.”

“ Thank you, sir,” said Adam earnestly, and was
silent. Again Sir Nathaniel understood.

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CHAPTER X

SMELLING DEATH

Adam Salton, though he made little talk, did not
let the grass grow under his feet in any matter
which he had undertaken, or in which he was
interested. He had agreed with Sir Nathaniel
that they should not do anything with regard to
the mystery of Lady Arabella's fear of the mongoose,
but he steadily pursued his course in being prepared
to do whenever the opportunity might come. He
was in his own mind perpetually casting about for
information or clues which might lead to such.
Baffled by the killing of the mongoose, he looked
around for another line to follow. He did not
intend to give up the idea of there being a link
between the woman and the animal, but he was
already preparing a second string to his bow. His
new idea was to use the faculties of Oolanga, so
far as he could, in the service of discovery. His
first move was to send Davenport to Liverpool to
try to find the steward of the West African , who had
told him about Oolanga, and then to get him to try
to induce (by bribery or other means) the nigger to
come to the Brow. So soon as he himself would

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Smelling Death 83

have speech of the Voodoo-man he would be able
to learn from him something useful. Davenport
went away in the early morning, and was successful
in both his missions, for he had to get Boss to
send another mongoose, and also the one reserved
for sending when told ; he was able to tell Adam
that he had seen the steward, who already told him
a lot he wanted to know, and had also arranged to
have Oolanga brought to Lesser Hill the following
day. At this point Adam saw his way sufficiently
clear to adumbrate to Davenport with fair exact-
ness what he wished him to find out. He had come
to the conclusion that it would be better — certainly
at first — not himself to appear in the matter, with
which Davenport was fully competent to deal. It
would be time for himself to take a personal part
when matters had advanced a little further.

That evening, when Davenport arrived, he had
a long interview with Adam, in which he told what
he had learned, partly from the ship steward, partly
from the other Africans in the ship’s service, and
partly from Oolanga’s own boasting. If what the
nigger said was in any wise true, the man had a
rare gift which might be useful in the quest they
were after. He could, as it were, “ smell death.”
If any one was dead, if any one had died, or if a
place had been used in connection with death, he
seemed to know the broad fact by intuition. Adam
made up his mind that to test this faculty with
regard to several places would be his first task.

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84 The Lair of the White Worm

Naturally he was anxious for this, and the time
passed slowly. The only comfort was the arrival
the next morning of a strong packing case, locked,
from Boss, the key being in the custody of Daven-
port. In the case were two smaller boxes, both
locked. One of them contained a mongoose to
replace that killed by Lady Arabella ; the other was
the reserved mongoose which had already killed
the king-cobra in Nepaul. When both the animals
had been safely put under lock and key in the place
arranged for them, he felt that he might breathe
more freely. Of course no one was allowed to
know the secret of their existence in the house,
except himself and Davenport. He arranged that
Davenport should take Oolanga round the neigh-
bourhood for a walk, stopping at each of the places
which he designated. Having gone all along the
Brow, he was to return the same way and induce
him to touch on the same subjects in talking with
Adam, who was to meet them as if by chance at
the farthest part — that beyond Mercy Farm.
Davenport was never to lose sight of him and was
to bring him back to Liverpool safely, and leave
him on board the ship, where he was to wait till his
master should send for him.

The incidents of the day were just what Adam
expected. At Mercy Farm, at Diana’s Grove, at
Castra Regis, and a few other spots, he stopped and,
opening his wide nostrils as if to sniff boldly, said
that he smelled death. It was not always in the

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same form. At Mercy Farm he said there were
many small deaths. At Diana’s Grove his bearing
was different. There was a distinct sense of
enjoyment about him, especially when he spoke of
many great deaths long ago. Here, too, he sniffed
in a strange way, like a bloodhound at check, and
looked puzzled. He said no word in either praise
or disparagement, but in the centre of the Grove
where, hidden amongst ancient oak stumps, was a
block of granite slightly hollowed on the top, he
bent low and placed his forehead on the ground.
This was the only place where he showed distinct
reverence. At the Castle, though he spoke of
much death, he showed no sign of respect. There
was evidently something about Diana’s Grove
which both interested and baffled him. Before
leaving he moved all over the place unsatisfied,
and in one spot where, close to the edge of the Brow,
was a deep hollow, he appeared to be afraid. After
returning several times to this place, he suddenly
turned and ran in a panic of fear to the higher
ground, crossing as he did so the outcropping rock.
Then he seemed to breathe more freely, and even
recovered some of his jaunty impudence.

All this seemed to satisfy Adam’s expectations.
He went back to Lesser Hill with a serene and
settled calm upon him.

When he went back to the house, Adam met Sir
Nathaniel, who followed him into his study, saying
as he closed the door behind him :

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“ By the way, I forgot to ask you details about
one thing. When that extraordinary staring epi-
sode of Mr Caswall went on, how did Lilia take it —
how did she bear herself ? ”

“ She looked frightened, and trembled just as I
have seen a pigeon with a hawk, or a bird with a
serpent.”

“ Thanks. That will do. It is just as I expected.
There have been circumstances in the Caswall family
which lead one to believe that they have had from
the earliest times some extraordinary mesmeric or
hypnotic faculty. Indeed, a skilled eye could read
so much in their physiognomy. That shot of yours,
whether by instinct or intention, of the hawk and
the pigeon was peculiarly apposite. I think we
may settle on that as a fixed trait to be accepted
throughout our investigation.”

When the dusk had fallen, Adam took the new
mongoose — not the one from Nepaul — and, carrying
the box slung over his shoulder, strolled towards
Diana’s Grove. Close to the gateway he met Lady
Arabella, clad as usual in tightly fitting white,
which showed off her extraordinarily slim figure.

To his intense astonishment the mongoose allowed
hei; to pet him, take him up in her arms and fondle
him. As she was coming in his direction he left
him with her and walked on.

Round the roadway between the entrances of
Diana’s Grove and Lesser Hill were many trees
with tall thin trunks with not much foliage except

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at top. In the dusk this place was shadowy, and
the view of anyone was hampered by the clustering
trunks. In the uncertain, tremulous light which
fell through the tree-tops, it was hard to distinguish
anything clearly, and as Adam looked back it
seemed to him that Lady Arabella was actually
dancing in a fantastic sort of way. Her arms were
opening and shutting and winding about strangely ;
the white fur which she wore round her throat was
also twisting about, or seemed to be. Not a sound
was to be heard. There was something uncanny in
all this silent movement which struck Adam as
worthy of notice ; so he waited, almost stopping
his progress altogether, and walked with lingering
steps, so as to let her overtake him. But as the dusk
was thickening he could distinguish no more than
he could at first. At last somehow he lost sight
of her altogether, and turned back on his track to
find her. Presently he came across her close to
her own gate. She was leaning over the paling of
split oak branches which formed the paling of the
avenue. He could not see the mongoose, so he
asked her where he had gone to.

“ He slipt out of my arms while I was petting him,”
she answered, “ and disappeared under the hedges.”

As she spoke she was walking back with him looking
for the little animal. They found him at a place
where the avenue widened so as to let carriages
pass each other. The little creature seemed quite
changed. He had been ebulliently active ; now

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he was dull and spiritless — seemed to be dazed.
He allowed himself to be lifted by either of the pair ;
but when he was alone with Lady Arabella he kept
looking round him in a strange way, as though
trying to escape. When they had come out on the
roadway Adam held the mongoose tight to him,
and, lifting his hat to his companion, moved quickly
towards Lesser Hill ; he and Lady Arabella lost
sight of each other in the thickening gloom.

When Adam got home he put the mongoose in
his box, which was left in the room where he had
been, and locked the door. The other mongoose —
the one from Nepaul — was safely locked in his own
box, but he lay quiet and did not stir. When he
got to his study Sir Nathaniel came in, shutting the
door behind him.

“ I have come,” he said, “ while we have an
opportunity of being alone, to tell you something of
the Caswall family which I think will interest you.
Somehow we got switched off when we were within
touch of the subject this afternoon.”

Adam prepared himself to listen. The other
began at once :

“ The point I was coming to to-day, when we
were diverted from the subject, was this : there
is, or used to be, a belief in this part of the world
that the Caswall family had some strange power of
making the wills of other persons subservient to
their own. There are many allusions to the subject
in memoirs and other unimportant works, but I

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only know of one where the subject is spoken of
definitely. It is Mercia and its Worthies, written
by Ezra Toms more than a hundred years ago. The
author more than infers that it was a mesmeric
power, for he goes into the question of the close
association of the then Edgar Caswall with
Mesmer in Paris. He speaks of Caswall being a
pupil and the fellow worker of Mesmer, and states
that though, when the latter left France, he took
away with him a vast quantity of philosophical and
electric instruments, he was never known to use
them again. He once made it known to a friend
that he had given them to his old pupil. The term
he used was odd, for it was ‘ bequeathed,’ but no
such bequest of Mesmer was ever made known.
At any rate the instruments were missing, and never
turned up. I just thought I would call your atten-
tion to this, as you might want to make a note of it.
We have not come, yet at all events, to the mystery
of the ‘ hawk and the pigeon.’ ”

Just as he finished speaking, a servant came into
the room to tell Adam that there was some strange
noise coming from the locked room into which he
had gone when he came in. He hurried off to the
place at once, Sir Nathaniel going with him. Hav-
ing locked the door behind him, Adam opened the
packing-case where the boxes of the two mongooses
were locked up. There was no sound from one of
them, but from the other a queer restless struggling.
Having opened both boxes, he found that the noise

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was from the Nepaul animal, which, however,
became quiet at once. In the other box the new
mongoose lay dead, with every appearance of having
been strangled.

There was nothing to be done that night. So
Adam locked the boxes and the room again, taking
with him the keys ; and both he and Sir Nathaniel
went off to bed.

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CHAPTER XI

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

Adam S Alton was up with the dawn, and, taking
a fast horse, rode off to Liverpool, bringing with
him, slung across his shoulders, the box with the
body of the mongoose. He was so early that
he had to wake up Mr Ross. From him he,
however, got what he wanted, the address of a
comparative anatomist, who helped him in dealing
with the health of his menagerie. Dr Cleaver
lived not far away, and in a very short time Adam
was ushered into his study. Unstrapping the box,
he took out the body of the mongoose, now as stiff
as wood, for the rigor mortis had long ago set in.
Laying the body on Dr Cleaver’s table, he said :

“ Last night this was frisky in my arms. Now it
is dead. What did it die of ? ”

The doctor went methodically to work and made
a full examination. Then he said gravely :

“ It may be necessary to make a more exhaustive
examination. But in the meantime, I may say
that it has been choked to death. And, considering
the nature of its uses and its enemies, I think it was
killed by some powerful snake of the constrictor

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class. Vast pressure must have been exercised,
as every bone in its body seems to have been broken.”
As the doctor accompanied Adam to the door, he
said : “ Of course it is none of my business, but
as I am a comparative anatomist, such things are
of keen interest to me — I shall be really grateful if
some time you will give me details of the death ;
and if you can possibly do so, supply me with weights
and measures of both the animals.”

Adam, on paying his fee, thanked him warmly,
gave him his card, and promised that some time
later on he would be happy to tell him all he himself
knew. Then he rode back to Lesser Hill and got
in just as his uncle and Sir Nathaniel were sitting
down to breakfast.

When breakfast was over, Sir Nathaniel went with
Adam to the study. When he had closed the door,
and Adam had told him all up to the previous night,
he looked at the young man with a grave, inquiring
glance and said :

“ Well ? ”

Adam told him all that occurred at his visit to
Dr Cleaver. He finished up with :

“ I am at sea, sir. I am looking for your opinion.”
“ So am I for yours,” said Sir Nathaniel. “ This
gets worse and frorse. It seems to me that the
mysteries are only beginning. We have now a
detective story added. I suppose there is nothing
to do but to wait — as we are doing — for the other
parts of the mystery.”

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“ Do you want me specially for anything this
afternoon ? ” asked Adam, adding, “ Of course I
am at your command if you do. If not, I thought
of calling at Mercy Farm.” He said this with a
diffidence which made the old man’s stem features
relax.

“ I suppose you would not wish me to come with
you?” he asked playfully.

Adam at once replied:

“ I should love it, sir ; but to-day I think it would
be better not.” Then, seeing the other’s inquiring
look, he went on : “ The fact is, sir, that Mr Caswall
is going to tea to-day, and I think it would be wiser
if I were present.”

“ Quite so. Of course you will tell me later if
there should take place anything which it would
be well for me to know.”

“ Certainly. I shall try to see you as soon as I
get home.”

They said no more, and a little after four o’clock
Adam set out for Mercy.

He was home just as the clocks were striking
six. He was pale and upset, but otherwise looked
strong and alert. The old man summed up his
appearance and manner thus : “ Braced up for
battle.” Realising that Adam wished to talk
with him, he quietly went over and locked the
door.

“ Now ! ” said Sir Nathaniel, and settled down
to listen, looking at Adam steadily and listening

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94 The Lair of the White Worm

attentively that he might miss nothing — even the
inflection of a word.

“ I found Miss Watford and Mimi at home.
Watford had been detained by business on the farm.
Miss Watford received me as kindly as before.
Mimi, too, seemed glad to see me. Mr Caswall
came so soon after I had arrived, that he or some-
one on his behalf must have been watching for me.
He was followed closely by the Christy Minstrel,
who was puffing hard as if he had been running —
so it was probably he who watched. Mr Caswall
was very cool and collected, but there was a more
than usually iron look about his face that I did not
like. However, both he and I got on very well. He
talked pleasantly on all sorts of questions. The
nigger waited a while and then disappeared as on
the other occasion. Mr Caswall’s eyes were as
usual fixed on Lilia. True, they seemed to be very
deep and earnest, but there was no offence in them.
Had it not been for the drawing down of the
brows and the stem set of the jaws, I should not at
first have noticed anything. But the stare, when
presently it began, increased in intensity. I could
see that Lilia began to suffer from nervousness, as
on the first occasion ; but she carried herself bravely.
However, the more nervous she grew, the harder
Mr Caswall stared. It was evident to me that he
had come prepared for some sort of mesmeric or
hypnotic battle. After a while he began to throw
glances round him and then raised his hand,

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without letting either Lilia or Mimi see the action.
It was evidently intended to give some sign to the
Christy Minstrel, for he came, in his usual stealthy
way, quietly in by the hall door, which was open.
Then Mr CaswalTs efforts at staring became inten-
sified, and poor Lilia’s nervousness grew greater.
Mimi, seeing that her cousin was distressed, came
close to her, as if to comfort or strengthen her
with the consciousness of her presence. This
evidently made a difficulty for Mr Caswall, for his
efforts, without seeming to get feebler, seemed less
effective. This continued for a little while, to the
gain of both Lilia and Mimi. Then there was a
diversion. Without word or apology the door
opened and Lady Arabella March entered the room.
We had seen her coming through the great window.
Without a word she crossed the room and stood
beside Mr Caswall. It really was very like a fight
of a peculiar kind ; and the longer it was sustained
the more earnest — the fiercer — it grew. That
combination of forces — the over-lord, the white
woman, and the black man — would have cost some —
probably all of them — their lives in the Southern
States of America. To us all it was simply horrible.
But all that you can understand. This time, to go
on in sporting phrase, it was understood by all to
be a ‘ fight to a finish,’ and the mixed group did not
slacken a moment or relax their efforts. On Lilia
the strain began to tell disastrously. She grew
pale — a patchy pallor, which meant that all her

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nerves were out of order. She trembled like an
aspen, and though she struggled bravely, I noticed
that her legs would hardly stiffen. A dozen times
she seemed about to collapse in a faint, but each
time, on catching sight of Mimi’s eyes, she made a
fresh struggle and pulled through.

“ By now Mr Caswall’s face had lost its appearance
of passivity. No longer was it immobile. His
eyes glowed with a red fiery light. He was still
the old Boman in inflexibility of purpose; but
grafted on the Boman was a new Berserker fury.
The statical force of his nature had entered on a
new phase. It had become dynamical. His com-
panions in the baleful work seemed to have taken
on something of his feeling. Lady Arabella looked
like a soulless, pitiless being, not human unless it
revived old legends of transformed human beings
•who had lost their humanity in some transformation
or in the sweep of natural savagery. As for the
Christy Minstrel, the only comparison I can suggest
was a fiend from hell, engaged in the active pursuit
of his natural purpose. I think I have already
given you my impression of his lofty natural beauty.
That I take back, for then I only spoke of possibili-
ties. . . . Now that I have seen his devilry in full
blast, such a belief is inadequate. I can only say,
that it was solely due to the self-restraint which
you impressed on me that I did not wipe him out
as he stood — without warning, without fair play —
without a single one of the graces of life and death.

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Lilia was silent in the helpless concentration of
deadly fear ; Mimi was all resolve and self-forget-
fulness, so intent on the soul-struggle in which she
was engaged that there was no possibility of any
other thought. As for myself, the bonds of will
which held me inactive seemed like bands of steel
which numbed all my faculties, except sight and
hearing. I was limited absolutely to the power of
waiting. We seemed fixed in an impasse . Some-
thing must happen, though the power of guessing
what was inactive. As in a dream, I saw Mimi’s
hand move restlessly, as if groping for something.
It was like a hand grown blind. Mechanically it
touched that of Lilia, and in that instant she was
transformed. It was as if youth and strength
entered afresh into something already dead to
sensibility and intention. As if by inspiration,
she grasped the other’s hand with a force which
blenched the knuckles. Her face suddenly flamed,
as if some divine light shone through it. Her form
rose and expanded till it stood out majestically.
Lifting her right hand, she stepped forward towards
Caswall, and with a bold sweep of her arm seemed
to drive some strange force towards him. Again
and again was the gesture repeated, the man falling
back from her at each movement. Towards the
door he retreated, she following. There was a
sound as of the cooing sob of doves, which seemed
to multiply and intensify with each second. The
sound from the unseen source rose and rose as he

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retreated, till finally it swelled out in a triumphant
peal, as she, with a fierce sweep of her arm, seemed
to hurl something at her foe, and he, moving his
hands blindly before his face, appeared to bo swept
through the doorway and out into the open sunlight.
At the same moment as he went, the light of day
became suddenly dimmed, as though a mighty
shadow had swept over the face of the earth. The
air was full of a fierce continuous sound as of whirring
wings.

“ All at once my own faculties were fully restored ;
I could see and hear everything, and be fully
conscious of what was going on. Even the figures
of the baleful group were there, though dimly
seen as through a veil — a shadowy veil. I saw
Lilia sink down in a swoon, and Mi mi throw up
her arms in a gesture of triumph. As I saw her
through the great window, the sunshine flooded
the landscape, which, however, was momentarily
becoming eclipsed by an on-rush of a myriad birds.

“ Hark to the rushing of their wings ! ”

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CHAPTER XII

THE KITE

By the next morning, daylight showed the actual
danger which threatened the east side of England.
From every part of the eastern counties reports
were received concerning the enormous immigration
of birds. Experts were sending — on their own
account, on behalf of learned societies, and through
local and imperial governing bodies — reports deal-
ing with the matter, and suggesting remedies. As
might have been expected, the latter were mostly
worthless. They were either disguised or undis-
guised advertisements with some personal object,
or else merely the babble of persons desirous of
notoriety on a quasi-scientific basis. The long-
suffering public showed by its indifference to such
reports forced upon them that they were not such
fools as they were supposed to be. Of course the
reports closer to home were more disturbing, even
if more monotonous, for Castra Regis was the very
centre of the trouble. All day long, and even all
night long, it would seem that the birds were coming
thicker from all quarters. Doubtless many were
going as well as coming, but the mass seemed never

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to get less. Each bird seemed to sound some note
of fear or anger or seeking, and the whirring of wings
never ceased nor lessened. The air was full of a
muttered throb. No window or barrier could shut
out the sound, till the ears of any listening became
partly paralysed by the ceaseless sound. So
monotonous it was, so cheerless, so disheartening,
so melancholy, that all longed, but in vain, for any
variety, no matter how terrible it might be.

The second morning the reports from all the dis-
tricts round were more alarming than ever. Farmers
began to dread the coming of winter as they saw
the dwindling of the timely fruitfulness of the earth.
And as yet it was only warning of evil, not
the evil accomplished ; the ground began to look
bare whenever some passing sound temporarily
frightened the birds.

Edgar Caswall tortured his brain for a long time
unavailingly, to think of some means of getting rid
of what he as well as his neighbours had come to
regard as a plague of birds. At last he recalled a
circumstance which promised a solution of the
difficulty. The experience was of some years ago
in China, far up-country, towards the head- waters of
the Yang-tze-kiang, where the smaller tributaries
spread out in a sort of natural irrigation scheme
to supply the wilderness of paddy-fields. It was
at the time of the ripening rice, and the wilderness
of birds which came to feed on the coming crop was
a serious menace not only to the district, but to the

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The Kite

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country at large. The farmers, who were more or
less afflicted with the same trouble every season,
knew how to deal with it. They made a vast kite,
which they caused to be flown over the centre spot of
the incursion. The kite was shaped like a great
hawk ; and the moment it rose into the air the birds
began to cower and seek protection and then to
disappear. So long as that kite was flying overhead
the birds lay low. The crop was saved. Accord-
ingly Caswall had his men construct an immense
kite, adhering as well as they could to the lines of a
hawk. Then he and his men, with a sufficiency of
string, began to fly it high overhead. The experi-
ence of China was repeated. The moment the kite
rose, the birds hid or sought shelter. The following
morning, the kite still flying high, no bird was to be
seen as far as the eye could reach from Castra Regis.
But there followed in turn what proved even a
worse evil. All the birds were cowed ; their sounds
stopped. Neither song nor chirp was heard —
silence seemed to have taken the place of the
myriad voices of bird life. But that was not all.
The silence spread to all animals.

The fear and restraint which brooded amongst
the denizens of the air began to affect all life. Not
only did the birds cease song or chirp, but the lowing
of the cattle ceased in the fields and the myriad
sounds of life died away In the place of these
things was only a soundless gloom, more dreadful,
more disheartening, more soul-killing than any

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concourse of sounds, no matter how full of fear and
dread. Pious individuals and bodies put up con-
stant prayers for relief from the intolerable solitude.
After a little there were signs of universal depres-
sion which who ran might read. One and all the
faces of men and women seemed bereft of vitality,
of interest, of thought, and, most of all, of hope.
Men seemed to have lost the power of expression of
their thoughts. The soundless air seemed to have
the same effect as the universal darkness when men
gnawed their tongues with pain.

From this infliction of silence there was no relief.
Everything was affected ; gloom was the pre-
dominant note. Joy appeared to have passed away
as a factor of life, and this creative impulse had
nothing to take its place. That giant spot in
high air was a plague of evil influence. It seemed
like a new misanthropic belief which had fallen
on human beings, carrying with it the negation
of all hope. After a few days, men began to grow
desperate ; their very words as well as their senses
seemed to be in chains. Edgar Caswall again tor-
tured his brain to find any antidote or palliative
of this greater evil than before. He would gladly
have destroyed the kite, or caused its flying to
cease ; but he dared not. The instant it was
pulled down, the birds rose up in even greater
numbers ; all those who depended in any way
on agriculture sent pitiful protests to Castra Regis.

It was strange indeed what influence that kite

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seemed to exercise. Even human beings were
affected by it, as if both it and they were realities.
As for the people at Mercy Farm, it was like
a taste of actual death. Lilia felt it most. If
she had been indeed a real dove, with a real kite
hanging over her in the air, she could not have
been more frightened or more affected by the
fright this created.

Of course, some of those already drawn into the
vortex noticed the effect on individuals. Those
who were interested took care to compare their
information. They felt that it might be of service
later on. Strangely enough, as it seemed to the
others, the person who took the ghastly silence
least to heart was the Christy Minstrel. By nature
he was not a man sensitive to, or afflicted by, nerves.
This alone would not have produced the seeming
indifference, so they set their minds to discover
the real cause. Adam came quickly to the con-
clusion that there was for him some compensation
that the others did not share ; and he soon believed
that that compensation was in one form or another
enjoyment of the sufferings of others. Thus, he
had a never-failing source of amusement. The
birds alone seemed as if they would satisfy even
him. He took delight in the oppression by the
predatory birds of the others of their kind. And
then, even of them he took the occasion to add
to his collection of beaks. Lady Arabella’s cold
nature rendered her immune to anything in the

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way of pain or trouble to or of others. And
Edgar Caswall was far too haughty a person, and
too stem of nature, to concern himself about even
poor or helpless people, much less the lower order
of mere animals. Mr Watford, Mr Salton, and Sir
Nathaniel were all concerned in the issue, partly
from kindness of heart — for none of them could see
suffering, even of wild birds, unmoved — and partly
on account of their property, which had to be
protected, or ruin would stare them in the face
before long. Lilia suffered acutely. As time went
on, her face became pinched, and her eyes dull
with watching and crying. Mimi suffered too on
account of her cousin’s suffering. But as she
could do nothing, she resolutely made up her mind
to self-restraint and patience. The inhabitants of
the district around took the matter with indiffer-
ence. They had been freed from the noises, and
the silence did not trouble them. It is often so ;
people put a different and more lofty name on
their own purposes. For instance, these people
probably considered their own view founded on
common weal, whereas it was merely indifference
founded on selfishness.

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CHAPTER XIII

MESMER’S CHEST

After a couple of weeks had passed, the kite
seemed to give to Edgar Caswall a new zest for life.
It appeared to have a satisfying influence on him.
He was never tired of looking at its movements.
He had a comfortable armchair put out on the
tower, wherein he sat sometimes all day long,
watching as though the kite was a new toy and
he a child lately come into possession of it. He
did not seem to have lost interest in Lilia, for he
still paid an occasional visit at Mercy Farm.

Indeed, his feeling towards her, whatever it had
been at first, had now so far changed that it had
become a distinct affection of a purely animal
kind. In the change of the kind of affection, the
peculiarly impersonal, philosophic, almost platonic,
had shed all the finer qualities that had belonged
to it. Indeed, it seemed as though the man’s
nature had become corrupted, and that all the
baser and more selfish and more reckless qualities
had become more conspicuous. There was not so
much sternness apparent in his nature, because
there was less self-restraint. Determination had

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become indifference. Sensitiveness, such as had
been, became callousness. Altogether, there did
not seem to be in his nature the same singleness of
purpose, either in kind or degree. Strangely, as
he unconsciously yielded to this demoralising
process, he seemed to be achieving a new likeness
to Oolanga. Sometimes as Adam— ever on the
watch — noticed the growing change, he began to
wonder whether the body was answering to the
mind or the mind to the body. Accordingly, it
was a never-ending thought to him which momen-
tum — the physical or the moral — was antecedent.
The thing which puzzled him most was, that the
forbidding qualities in the African, which had at
first evoked his attention and his disgust, re-
mained the same. Had it been that the two men
had been affected, one changing with the other by
slow degrees — a sort of moral metabolism, — he
could have better and more easily understood it.
Transmutation of different bodies is, in a way, more
understandable than changes in one body that
have no equivalent equipoise in the other. The
idea was recurrent to him that perhaps when a
nature has reached its lowest point of decadence
it loses the faculty of change of any kind. How-
ever it was, the fact remained. Oolanga preserved
all his original brutal decadence, while Caswall
slowly deteriorated without any hint of resilience.

The visible change in Edgar was that he grew
morbid, sad, silent ; the neighbours thought he was

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mad. He became absorbed in the kite, and
watched it not only by day, but often all night long.
It became an obsession to him.

Adam kept his eyes and ears open and his mouth
shut. He felt that he was learning. And, indeed,
he was not mistaken when he acted as if silence was
a virtue. He took a certain amount of interest —
pleasure would be too smooth a word — in the
generally expressed opinions of the neighbours of
Castra Regis. It was commonly held regarding
Caswall that he was mad. He took a personal
interest in the keeping of the great kite flying.
He had a vast coil of string efficient for the purpose,
which worked on a roller fixed on the parapet of
the tower. There was a winch for the pulling in
of the slack of the string ; the outgoing line was
controlled by a racket. There was invariably one
man at least, day and night, on the tower to attend
to it. At such an elevation there was always a
strong wind, and at times the kite rose to an
enormous height, as well as travelling for great
distances laterally. In fact, the kite became, in a
short time, one of the curiosities of Castra Regis
and all around it. Edgar began to attribute to
it, in his own mind, almost human qualities. It
became to him a separate entity, with a mind and
a soul of its own. Being idle-handed all day, he
began to apply t6 what he considered the service
of the kite some of his spare time, and found a
new pleasure — a new object in life — in the old

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schoolboy gam© of sending up “ runners ” to the
kite. The way this is done is to get round pieces
of paper so cut that there is a hole in the centre
through which the string of the kite passes. The
natural action of the wind-pressure takes the paper
thus cut along the string, and so up to the kite
itself, no matter how high or how far it may have
gone. In the early days of this amusement Edgar
Caswall spent hours. Hundreds of such messengers
flew along the string, until soon he bethought him
of writing messages on these papers so that he
could make known his ideas to the kite. It may
be that his brain gave way under the opportunities
given by his foregone illusion of the entity of the
toy and its power of separate thought. From
sending messages he came to making direct speech
to the kite — without, however, ceasing to send the
runners. Doubtless, the height of the tower,
seated as it was on the hill-top, the rushing of the
ceaseless wind, the hypnotic effect of the lofty
altitude of the speck in the sky at which he gazed,
and the rushing of the paper messengers up the
string till sight of them was lost in distance, all
helped to further affect his brain, undoubtedly
giving way under the strain of a concatenation of
beliefs and circumstances which were at once
stimulating to the imagination, occupative of his
mind, and absorbing.

The next step of intellectual decline was to bring
to bear on the main idea of the conscious identity

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of the kite all sorts of subjects which had imagina-
tive force or tendency of their own. He had, in
Castra Regis, a large collection of curious and
interesting things formed in the past by his fore-
bears, of similar likes to his own. There were all
sorts of strange anthropological specimens, both
old and new, which had been collected through
various travels in strange places : ancient Egyptian
relics from tombs, and mummies ; curios from
Australia, New Zealand, and the South Seas ;
idols and images — from Tartar ikons to ancient
Egyptian, Persian, and Indian objects of worship ;
objects of death and torture of American Indians ;
and, above all, a vast collection of lethal weapons
of every kind and from every place — Chinese
“ high pinders,” double knives, Afghan double-
edged scimitars made to cut a body in two, heavy
knives from all the Eastern countries, ghost
daggers from Thibet, the terrible kukri of the
Ghourka and other hill tribes of India, assassins’
weapons from Italy and Spain, even the knife
which was formerly carried by the slave-drivers of
the Mississippi region. Death and pain of every
kind were fully represented in that gruesome
collection. That it had a fascination for Oolanga
goes without saying. He was never tired of
visiting the museum in the tower, and spent end-
less hours in inspecting the exhibits, till he was
thoroughly familiar with every detail of all of
them. He asked permission to clean and polish

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and sharpen them — a favour which was readily
granted. In addition to the above objects, there
were many things of a kind to awaken human
fear. Stuffed serpents of the most objectionable
and horrid kind; giant insects from the tropics,
fearsome in every detail; fishes and crustaceans
covered with weird spikes ; dried octopuses of great
size. Other things, too, there were not less deadly
though seemingly innocuous — dried fungi, the
touch of which was death and whose poison was
carried on the air ; also traps intended for birds,
beast, fishes, reptiles, and insects ; machines which
could produce pain of any kind and degree, and the
only mercy of which was the power of producing
speedy death. Caswall, who had never seen any
of these things, except those which he had collected
himself, found a constant amusement and interest
in them. He studied them, their uses, their
mechanism — where there was such, — and their
places of origin, until he had an ample and real
knowledge of all belonging to them. Many were
secret and intricate, but he never rested till he found
out all the secrets. When once he had become
interested in strange objects and the way to use
them, he began to explore various likely places for
similar finds. He began to inquire of his household
where strange lumber was kept. Several of the men
spoke of old Simon Chester as one who knew every-
thing in and about the house. Accordingly, he
sent for the old man, who came at once. He was

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very old, nearly ninety years of age, and very
infirm. He had been bom in the Castle, and
served its succession of masters — present or
absent — ever since. When Edgar began to
question him on the subject regarding which he
had sent for him, old Simon exhibited much
perturbation. In fact, he became so frightened
that his master, fully believing that he was
concealing something, ordered him to tell at once
what remained unseen, and where such was hidden
away. Face to face with discovery of his secret,
the old man, in a pitiable state of concern,
spoke out even more fully than Mr Caswall had
expected :

“ Indeed, indeed, sir, everything is here in the
tower that has ever been imported or put away
in my time — except — except ” — here he began
to shake and tremble — “ except the chest which
Mr Edgar — he who was Mr Edgar when I first
took service — brought back from France, after he
had been with Dr Mesmer. The trunk has been
kept in my room for safety ; but I shall send it
down here now.”

“ What is in it ? ” asked Edgar sharply.

“ That I do not know. Moreover, it is a
peculiar trunk, without any visible means of
opening it.”

“ Is there no lock ? ”

“ I suppose so, sir ; but I do not know. There
is no keyhole.”

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“ Send it here ; and then come to me your-
self.”

The trunk, a heavy one with steel bands round
it, but no lock or keyhole, was carried in by four
men. Shortly afterwards old Simon attended his
master. When he came into the room, Mr
Caswall himself went and closed the door; then
he asked :

“ How do you open it ? ”

“ I do not know, sir.”

“ Do you mean to say you never opened
it ? ”

With considerable and pathetic dignity, the old
man answered :

“ Most certainly I do say so, your honour. How
could I ? It was entrusted to me with the other
things by my master. To open it would have
been a breach of trust.”

Caswall sneered as he said :

“ Quite remarkable ! Leave it with me. Close
the door behind you. Stay — did no one ever tell
you about it — say anything regarding it — make any
remark ? ”

Old Simon turned pale, and put his trembling
hands together as though imploring :

“ Oh, sir, I entreat you not to touch it. That
probably contains secrets which Dr Mesmer told
my master. Told them to his ruin ! ”

“ How do you mean ? What ruin ? ”

“ Sir, he it was who, men said, sold his soul to

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the Evil One ; I had thought that that time and
the evil of it had all passed away.”

“ That will do. Go away ; but remain in your
own room, or within call. I may want you.”

The old man bowed deeply and went out trem-
bling, but without speaking a word.

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CHAPTER XIV

THE CHEST OPENED

Left alone-gin the turret-room, Edgar Caswall
carefully locked the door and hung a handkerchief
over the keyhole. Next, he inspected the windows,
and saw that they were not overlooked from any
angle of the main building. Then he carefully
examined the trunk, going over it with a magnifying
glass. He found it intact : the steel bands were
flawless ; the whole trunk was compact into unity.
After sitting opposite to it for some time, and the
shades of evening beginning to melt into darkness,
he gave up the task and took himself to his bedroom,
after locking the door of the turret-room behind
him and taking away the key.

He woke in the morning at daylight, and resumed
his patient but unavailing study of the metal trunk.
This he continued during the whole day with the
same result — humiliating disappointment which
overwrought his nerves and made his head ache.
The result of the long strain was seen later in the
afternoon, when he sat locked within the turret-
room before the still baffling trunk, distrait, listless
and yet agitated, sunk in a settled gloom. As the

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dusk was falling he told the steward to send him
four men, strong ones. These he told to take the
trunk to his bedroom. In that room he then sat
on into the night, without pausing even to take
any food. His mind was in a whirl, a fever of
excitement. The result was that when late in the
night he locked himself in his room his brain was
full of odd fancies ; he was on the high road to
mental disturbance. He lay down on his bed in the
dark, still brooding over the mystery of the closed
trunk.

Gradually he yielded to the influences of silence
and darkness. After lying there quietly for some
time his mind became active again. But this time
there were round him no disturbing influences ;
his brain was active and able to work freely and
to deal with memory. A thousand forgotten — or
only half-known — incidents, fragments of conversa-
tions or theories long ago guessed at and long
forgotten, crowded in on his mind. He seemed to
hear again around him the legions of whirring
wings to which he had been so lately accustomed.
Even to himself he knew that that was an effort
of imagination founded on imperfect memory.
But he was content that imagination should work,
for out of it might come some solution of the mystery
which surrounded him. And in this frame of mind,
sleep made another and more successful essay.
This time he enjoyed peaceful slumber, restful alike
to his wearied body and his overwrought brain.

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In his sleep in the darkness he arose, and, as if
in obedience to some influence beyond and greater
than himself, lifted the great trunk and set it on a
strong table at one side of the room, from which he
had previously removed a quantity of books. To
do this, he had to use an amount of strength which
was, he knew, far beyond him in his normal state.
As it was, it seemed easy enough ; everything
yielded before his touch. Then he became conscious
that somehow — how, he never could remember —
the chest was open. Again another wonder. He
unlocked his door, and, taking the chest on his
shoulder, carried it up to the turret-room, the door
of which also he unlocked. Even at the time he
was amazed at his own strength, and wondered
unavailingly whence it had come. His mind, lost
in conjecture, was too far off to realise more immedi-
ate things. He knew that the chest was enormously
heavy. He seemed, in a sort of vision which lit
up the absolute blackness around, to see the four
sturdy servant men staggering under its great
weight. He locked himself again in the turret-room
and laid the opened chest on a table, and in the
darkness began to carefully unpack it, laying out
the contents, which were mainly of metal and
glass — great pieces in strange forms, — on another
table. He was conscious of being still asleep, and
of acting rather in obedience to some unseen and
unknown command than in accordance with
any reasonable plan to be followed by results

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which he understood and was aiming at. This
phase completed, he proceeded to arrange in order
the component parts of some large instruments
formed mostly of glass. His fingers seemed to
have acquired a new and exquisite subtlety and
even a volition of their own. Then he brought
some force to bear — how or where, he knew not, —
and soon the room was filled with the whirr of
machinery moving at great speed. Through the
darkness, in its vicinity, came irregularly quick
intermittent flashes of dazzling light. All else was
still. Then weariness of brain came upon him ;
his head sank down on his breast, and little by
little everything became wrapped in gloom.

He awoke in the early morning in his bedroom,
and looked around him, now clear-headed, in amaze-
ment. In its usual place on the strong table stood
the great steel-hooped chest without lock or key.
But it was now locked. He arose quietly and stole
to the turret-room. There everything was as it
had been on the previous evening. He looked
out of the window where high in air flew, as usual,
the giant kite. He unlocked the wicket gate of
the turret stair and went out on the roof. Close
to him was the great coil of string on its reel. It
was humming in the morning breeze, and when he
touched the string it sent a quick thrill through
hand and arm. There was no sign anywhere that
there had been any disturbance or displacement of
anything during the night.

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Utterly bewildered, he sat down in his room to
think. Now for the first time he /eft that he was
asleep and dreaming. Presently he fell asleep
again, and slept for a long time. He awoke hungry
and made a hearty meal. Then towards evening,
having locked himself in, he fell asleep again. When
he awoke he was in darkness, and was quite at sea
as to his whereabouts. He began feeling about
the dark room, and was recalled to the consequences
of his position by the breaking of a large piece of
glass. This he, having obtained a light, discovered
to be a glass wheel, part of an elaborate piece of
mechanism which he must have in his sleep taken
from the chest, which was opened. He had once
again opened it whilst asleep, but he had no sort
of recollection of the circumstances. He came to
the conclusion that there had been some sort of
dual action of his mind which might lead to some
catastrophe or some discovery of his secret plans ;
so he resolved to forgo for a while the pleasure of
making discoveries regarding the chest. To this
end, he applied himself to quite another matter —
an investigation of the other treasures and rare
objects in his collections. He went amongst them
in simple, idle curiosity, his main object being to
discover some strange item which he might use for
experiment with the kite. He had already resolved
to try some runners other than those made of paper.
He had a vague idea that with such a force as the
great kite straining at its leash, this might be used

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to lift to the altitude of the kite itself heavier articles.
His first experiment with articles of little but in-
creasing weight was eminently successful. So he
added by degrees more and more weight, until he
found out that the lifting power of the kite was
considerable. He then determined to take a step
still further, and to use for sending to the kite some
of the articles which lay in the steel-hooped chest.
The last time he had opened it in sleep it had not
been shut again, so he had inserted a wedge so that
he could open it at will. He made examination of
the contents, but came to the conclusion that the
glass objects were unsuitable. They were too light
for testing weight, and they were so frail as to be
dangerous to send to such a height. So he looked
around for something more solid with which to
experiment. His eye caught sight of an object
which at once attracted him. This was a small
copy of one of the ancient Egyptian gods — that of
Bes, who represented the destructive power of
nature. It was so bizarre and mysterious as to
commend itself to his humour. In lifting it from
the cabinet, he was struck by its great weight in
proportion to its size. He made accurate examina-
tion of it by the aid of some philosophical instru-
ments, and came to the conclusion that it was
carven from a lump of lodestone. He remembered
that he had read somewhere of an ancient Egyptian
god cut from a similar substance, and, thinking it
over, he came to the conclusion that he must have

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120 The Lair of the White Worm

read it in Sir Thomas Brown’s Popular Errors , a
book of the seventeenth century. He got the book
from the library, and looked out the passage :

“ A great example we have from the observation
of our learned friend Mr Graves, in an ^Egyptian
idol cut out of Loadstone and found among the
Mummies ; which still retains its attraction,
though probably taken out of the mine about two
thousand years ago.” — Book II., Chap. VII.

The strangeness of the figure, and its being so
close akin to his own nature, attracted him. He
made from thin wood a large circular runner and
in front of it placed the weighty god, and sent it
up to the flying kite along the throbbing string.

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CHAPTER XV

OOLANGA’S HALLUCINATIONS

Dubing the last days Lady Arabella had been get-
ting exceedingly impatient. Her debts, always
pressing, were growing to an embarrassing amount.
The only hope she had of comfort in life was a
good marriage ; but the good marriage on which
she had fixed her eye did not seem to move quickly
enough — indeed, it did not seem to move at all —
in the right direction. Edgar Caswall was not an
ardent wooer. From the very first he seemed
difficile , but now he had been keeping to his own
room ever since his struggle with Mimi Watford.
On that occasion she had shown him in an un-
mistakable way what her feelings were ; indeed,
she had made it known to him, in a more overt way
than pride should allow, that she wished to help and
support him. The moment when she had gone
across the room to stand beside him in his mesmeric
struggle, had been the very limit of her voluntary
action. It was quite bitter enough, she felt, that
he did not come to her, but now that she had made
that advance, she felt that any withdrawal on his
part would, to a woman of her class, be nothing less

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than a flaming insult. Had she not classed herself
with his nigger servant, an unreformed savage ?
Had she not shown her preference for him at the
festival of his home-coming ? Had she not . . .
Lady Arabella was cold-blooded, and she was pre-
pared to go through all that might be necessary
of indifference and even insult to become chatelaine
of Castra Regis. In the meantime, she would show
no hurry — she would wait. She would even, in an
unostentatious way, come to him again. She knew
him now, and could make a keen guess at his
desires with regard to Lilia Watford. With that
secret in her possession, she could bring pressure
to bear on him which would make it no easy matter
to evade her. The great difficulty she had was how
to get near him. He was shut up within his Castle,
and guarded by a defence of convention which she
could not pass without danger of ill repute to herself.
Over this question she thought and thought for
days and nights. At last she thought she saw a
way of getting at him. She would go to him
openly at Castra Regis. Her individual rank and
position would make such a thing possible if carefully
done. She could explain matters afterwards if
necessary. Then when they were alone — as she
would manage — she would use her arts and her
experience to make him commit himself. After all,
he was only a man, with a man’s dislike of difficult
or awkward situations. She felt quite sufficient
confidence in her own womanhood to carry her

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Oolanga’s Hallucinations 123

through any difficulty which might arise. From
Diana’s Grove she heard each day the luncheon-
gong from Castra Regis sound, and knew the hour
when the servants would be in the back of the house.
She would enter the house at that hour, and,
pretending that she could not make anyone hear
her, would seek him in his own rooms. The tower
was, she knew, away from all the usual sounds of
the house, and moreover she knew that the servants
had strict orders not to interrupt him when he was
in the turret chamber. She had found out, partly
by the aid of an opera-glass and partly by judicious
questioning, that several times lately a heavy
chest had been carried to and from his room, and
that it rested in the room each night. She was,
therefore, confident that he had some important
work on hand which would keep him busy for long
spells. And so she was satisfied that all was going
well with her — that her designs were ripening.

Synchronously, another member of the household
at Castra Regis had got ideas which he thought
were working to fruition. A man in the position
of a servant has plenty of opportunity of watching
his betters and forming opinions regarding them.
Oolanga, now living at the Castle, was in his way
a clever, unscrupulous man, and he felt that with
things moving round him in this great household
there should be opportunities of self-advancement.
Being unscrupulous and stealthy — and a savage —
he looked to dishonest means. He saw plainly

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enough that Lady Arabella was making a dead
set at his master, and he was watchful of even the
slightest sign of anything which might materialise
this knowledge. Like the other men in the house,
he knew of the carrying to and fro of the great
chest, and had got it into his head that the care
exercised in its portage indicated that it was full
of great treasure. He was for ever lurking around
the turret-rooms on the chance of making some
useful discovery. But he was as cautious as he was
stealthy, and took care that no one else watched
him. It was thus that he became aware of Lady
Arabella’s venture into the house, as she thought,
unseen. He took more care than ever, since he
was watching another, that the positions were not
reversed. More than ever he kept his eyes and
ears open and his mouth shut. Seeing Lady
Arabella gliding up the stairs towards his master’s
room, he took it for granted that she was there for
no good, and doubled his watching intentness and
caution. She waited patiently, hidden in his room,
till Caswall returned upstairs after his lunch. She
took care not to frighteiT'or startle him in any way.
As, she did not know that anyone was watching
and listening, her movements were merely a part
of caution. She knew that sudden surprise occa-
sions sudden sound, and that by this, in turn, others
who were listeners would almost of necessity betray
themselves. Oolanga was disappointed, but he
dared not exhibit any feeling on the subject lest

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Oolanga’s Hallucinations 125

it should betray that he was hiding. Therefore
he slunk downstairs again noiselessly, and waited
for a more favourable opportunity of furthering
his plans. It must be borne in mind that he thought
that the heavy trunk was full of valuables, and that
he believed that Lady Arabella had come to try
to steal it. His purpose of using for his own
advantage the combination of these two ideas
was seen later in the day. When, after some time,
Lady Arabella had given up the idea of seeing
Caswall that afternoon, she moved quietly out of
the Castle, taking care not to be noticed either
within the house or outside it. Oolanga secretly
followed her. He was an expert at this game,
and succeeded admirably on this occasion. He
watched her enter the private gate of Diana’s
Grove and then, taking a roundabout course and
keeping altogether out of her sight, by following
her at last overtook her in a thick part of the Grove
where no one could see the meeting. Lady Arabella
was at the moment much surprised. She had not
seen him for several days, and had almost forgotten
his existence. Oolanga would have been surprised
had he known and been capable of understanding
the real value placed on him, his beauty, his
worthiness, by other persons, and compared it with
the value in these matters in which he held himself.
But in some cases, if ignorance be bliss, bliss has
a dynamic quality which later leads to destruction.
Doubtless Oolanga had his dreams like other men.

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In such cases he doubtless saw himself— or would
have done had he had the knowledge with which
to make the comparison — as a young sun-god —
colour not stated — as beautiful as the eye of dusky
or even white womanhood had ever dwelt upon.
He would have been filled with all noble and
captivating qualities regarded as such in West
Africa. Women would have loved him, and would
have told him so in the overt and fervid manner
usual in affairs of the alleged heart in the shadowy
depths of the forest of the Gold Coast. After all,
etiquette is a valuable factor in the higher circles of
even Africa in reducing chaos to social order and
in avoiding mistakes properly ending in lethal
violence. Had he known of such an educational
influence, the ambitious Oolanga might have
regretted its absence from his curriculum. But
as it was, intent on his own ends, he went on in
blind ignorance of offence. He came close behind
Lady Arabella, and in a hushed voice suitable to
the importance of his task, and in deference to the
respect he had for her and the place, began to unfold
the story of his love. Lady Arabella was not usually
a humorous person, but no man or woman bora
with the usual risible faculties of the white race
could have checked the laughter which rose spon-
taneously to her lips. The circumstances were
too grotesque, the contrast too violent, for even
subdued mirth. The man a debased specimen of
one of the most debased races of the earth, and

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Oolanga’s Hallucinations 127

of an ugliness which was simply devilish ; the
woman of high degree, beautiful, accomplished.
She thought that her first moment’s consideration
of the outrage — it was nothing less in her eyes — had
given her the full material for thought. But every
instant after threw new and varied lights on the
affront. Her indignation was too great for passion :
only irony or satire would meet the situation. And
so her temper was able to stand the test. Calmed
by a few moments of irony, she found voice. Her
cold, cruel nature helped, and she did not shrink
to subject even the poor ignorant savage to the
merciless fire-lash of her scorn. Oolanga was
dimly conscious, at most, that he was being flouted
in a way he least understood ; but his anger was
no less keen because of the measure of his ignorance.
So he gave way to it as does a tortured beast. He
ground his great teeth together, he raved, he stamped,
he swore in barbarous tongues and with barbarous
imagery. Even Lady Arabella felt that it was
well she was within reach of help, or he might have
offered her brutal violence — even have killed
her.

“ Am I to understand,” she said with cold disdain,
so much more effective to wound than hot passion,
“ that you are offering me your love ? Your —
love ? ”

For reply he nodded his head. The scorn of her
voice in a sort of baleful hiss sounded — and felt —
like the lash of a whip.

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128 The Lair of the White Worm

Then she continued, her passion rising as she
spoke :

“ And you dared ! you — a savage — a slave —
the basest thing in the world of vermin ! Take
care ! I don’t value your worthless life more
than I do that of a rat or spider. Don’t let
me ever see your hideous face here again, or
I shall rid the earth of you. Have you any-
thing to say for yourself why I should not kill
you ? ”

As she was speaking, she had taken out her
revolver and was pointing it at him. In the
immediate presence of death his impudence
forsook him, and he made a weak effort to
justify himself. His speech was short, consist-
ing of single words. To Lady Arabella it sounded
mere gibberish, but it was in his own dialect,
and meant love, marriage, wife. From the in-
tonation of the words, she guessed, with her
woman’s quick intuition, at their meaning ;
but she quite failed to follow when, becoming
more pressing, he continued to urge his suit
in a mixture of the grossest animal passion and
ridiculous threats. In the latter he said that
he knew she had tried to steal his master’s
treasure, and that he had caught her in the
act. So if she would be his he would share the
treasure with her, &nd they would live in luxury
in the African forests. But if she refused, he
would tell his master, who would flog and torture

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Oolanga’s Hallucinations 129

her and then give her to the police, who would kill
her.

Altogether it was a fine mixture of opposing
base projects, just such as a savage like
him might be expected to evolve out of his
passions.

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CHAPTER XVI

BATTLE RENEWED

The consequences of that meeting in the dusk of
Diana’s Grove were acute and far-reaching, and
not only to the two engaged in it. From Oolanga,
this might have been expected by anyone who
knew the character of the tropical African
savage. To such, there are two passions that
are inexhaustible and insatiable — vanity and
that which they are pleased to call love. Oolanga
left the Grove with an absorbing hatred in his
heart. His lust and greed were afire, and
his vanity had been wounded to the core.
Lady Arabella’s icy nature was not so deeply
stirred, though she too was in a seething pas-
sion. More than ever was she set upon bring-
ing Edgar Caswall to her feet. The obstacles
she had encountered, the insults she had endured,
were only as fuel to the purpose of revenge which
consumed her.

As she sought her own rooms in Diana’s Grove,
she went over the whole subject again and again,
always finding in the face of Lilia Watford as a
key to a problem which puzzled her — the problem

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131

of a way to turn Caswall’s powers — his very exist-
ence — to aid her purpose.

When in her boudoir, she wrote a note, taking so
much trouble over it that she wrote, destroyed,
and rewrote, till her dainty waste-basket was half-
full of tom sheets of notepaper. When quite
satisfied, she copied out the last sheet afresh, and
then carefully burned all the spoiled fragments.
She put the copied note in an emblazoned envelope,
and directed it to Edgar Caswall at Castra Regis.
This she sent off by one of her grooms. The letter
ran :

“ Dear Mb Caswall, — I want to have a little
chat with you on a subject in which I believe you
are interested. Will you kindly call for me to-day
after lunch — say at three or four o’clock, and we
can walk a little way together. Only as far as
Mercy Farm, where I want to see Lilia and Mimi
Watford. We can take a cup of tea at the Farm.
Do not bring your African servant with you, as I
am afraid his face frightens the girls. After all, he
is not pretty, is he ? I have an idea you will be
pleased with your visit this time. — Yours sincerely,

“ Arabella March.”

At half-past three Edgar Caswall called at
Diana’s Grove. Lady Arabella met him on the
roadway outside the gate. She wished to take
the servants into confidence as little as possible.

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132 The Lair of the White Worm

She turned when she saw him coming, and walked
beside him towards Mercy Farm, keeping step
with him as they walked. When they got near
Mercy, she turned and looked around her, expecting
to see Oolanga or some sign of him. He was, how-
ever, not visible. He had received from his master
peremptory orders to keep out of sight — an order
for which the African scored a new offence up
against her. They found Lilia and Mimi at home
and seemingly glad to see them, though both the
girls were surprised at the visit coming so soon
after the other.

The proceedings were a simple repetition of the
battle of souls of the former visit. On this occasion,
however, Edgar Caswall seemed as if defeated, even
before the strife began. This was the more strange,
as on this occasion he had only the presence of
Lady Arabella to support him — Oolanga being
absent. Moreover, Mimi lacked on the present
occasion the support of Adam Salton, which had
been of such effective service before. This time
the struggle for supremacy of will was longer and
more determined. Caswall felt that if on this
occasion he could not achieve supremacy, he had
better give up the idea of trying to settle at Castra
Regis, and so all his pride was enlisted against
Mimi. When they had been waiting for the door
to be opened, Lady Arabella, believing in a sudden
attack, had said to him in a low, stem voice which
somehow carried conviction :

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133

“ This time you should win. She is, after all,
only a woman. Show her no mercy. That is
weakness. Fight her, beat her, trample on her,
kill her if need be. She stands in your way, and I
hate her. Never take your eyes off her. Never
mind Lilia — she is afraid of you. You are already
her master. The other, Mimi, will try to make
you look at her cousin. Do not. There lies defeat.
Let nothing — no, not death itself, no matter of
whom — take your attention from Mimi, and you
will win. If she is overcoming you, take my hand
and hold it hard whilst you are looking into her
eyes. If she is too strong for you, I shall interfere.
I shall make a diversion, and under the shade of it
you must retire unbeaten, even if not victorious.
Hush ! silence ! they are coming. Be resolute,
and still.”

The two girls came to the door together. They
had been fixing up an Aeolian harp which Adam
had given Mimi. At the open door they listened
for a few moments. Strange sounds were coming
up over the Brow from the east. It was the
rustling and crackling of the dry reeds and rushes
from the low lands on the hither side of the Eastern
Sea. The season had been an unusually dry one.
Also the sound came from another cause: the
strong east wind was helping forward enormous
flocks of birds, most of them pigeons with white
cowls. Not only were their wings whirring, but
their cooing was plainly audible. From such a

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134 The* Lair of the White Worm

multitude of birds the mass of sound, individually
small, assumed the volume of a storm. Surprised
at the influx of birds, to which they had been
strangers so long, they all looked towards Castra
Regis, from whose high tower the great kite had
been flying as usual. But even as they looked
the string broke, and the great kite fell headlong
in a series of sweeping dives. Its own weight and
the aerial force opposed to it which caused it to
rise, combined with the strong easterly breeze,
had been too much for the great length of cord
holding it.

Somehow, the mishap to the kite gave new hope
to Mimi. It was as though the side issues had
been shorn away, so that the main struggle was
thenceforth on simpler lines. She had a feeling in
her heart as though some religious chord had been
newly touched. It may, of course, have been that
with the renewal of the bird voices a fresh courage,
a fresh belief in the good issue of the struggle
came too. It may also have been that the un-
accustomed sounds of the seolian harp woke fresh
trains of thought. In the misery of silence, from
which they had all for so long suffered, any new
train of thought was almost bound to be a boon.
As the inrush of birds continued, their wings beating
against the crackling rushes, Lady Arabella suddenly
grew pale, and almost fainted. With strained ears
she listened, and suddenly asked :

“ What is that ? ”

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To Mimi, bred in Siam, the sound was strangely
like an exaggeration of the sound produced by a
snake-charmer. It was doubtless the union of the
crackling from the rushes and the weird sound of
the harp ; but no one asked explanation, and none
offered it.

Edgar Caswall was the first to recover from the
interruption of the falling kite. After a few
minutes he seemed to have quite recovered his
sang froid, and was able to use his brains to the
end which he had in view. Mimi too quickly
recovered herself, but from a different cause.
With her it was a deep religious conviction that
the struggle round her was of the powers of Good
and Evil, and that Good was triumphing. The
very appearance of the snowy birds, with the cowls
of Saint Columba, heightened the impression. With
this conviction strong upon her, it is hardly to be
wondered at that she continued the strange battle
with fresh vigour. She seemed to tower over
Caswall, and he to give back before her oncoming.
Once again her vigorous passes drove him to the
door. He was just going out backward when
Lady Arabella, who had been gazing at him with
fixed eyes, caught his hand and tried to stop his
retrograde movement. She was, however, unable
to stop him, and so holding hands they passed out
together. As they did so, the strange music which
had so alarmed Lady Arabella suddenly stopped.
Instinctively they looked toward the tower of

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136 The Lair of the White Worm

Castra Regis, and saw that the workmen had re-
fixed the kite, which had risen again and was
beginning to float out to its former station.

As they were looking, the door opened and
Michael Watford came into the room. By that
time all had recovered their self-possession, and
there was nothing out of the common to attract
his attention. As he came in, seeing inquiring
looks all around him, he said :

“ A telegram has come from the Agricultural
Department. The new influx of birds is only the
annual migration of pigeons from Africa. They
say it will soon be over.”

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CHAPTER XVH

THE SHUTTING OF THE DOOR

The second victory of Mimi Watford made Edgar
Caswall more moody than ever. He felt thrown
back on himself, and this, superadded to his absorb-
ing interest in the hope of a victory of his will, was
now a deep and settled purpose of revenge. The
chief object of his animosity was, of course, Mimi,
whose will had overcome his, but it was obscured
in greater or lesser degree by all who had opposed
him. Lilia was next to Mimi in his hate— Lilia,
the harmless, tender-hearted, sweet-natured girl,
whose heart was so full of love for all things that
in it was no room for the passions of ordinary life —
whose nature resembled those doves of St Columba,
whose colour she wore, whose appearance she
reflected. Adam Salton came next — after a gap ;
for against him Caswall had no direct animosity.
He regarded him as an interference, a difficulty
in the way to be got rid of or destroyed. The
young Australian had been so discreet that the
most he had against him was his knowledge of what
had been. Caswall did not understand him, and
to such a nature as his, ignorance was a cause of

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138 The Lair of the White Worm

alarm, of dread. He resumed his habit of watching
the great kite straining at its cord, varying his
vigils in this way by a further examination of the
mysterious treasures of his house, especially Mesmer’s
chest. He sat much on the roof of the tower,
brooding over all his thwarted hopes. The vast
extent of his possessions visible to him at that
altitude might, one would have thought, have
restored some of his complacency. But not so ;
the very extent of his ownership thus perpetually
brought before him made a fresh sense of grievance.
How was it, he thought, that with so much at com-
mand that others wished for, he could not achieve
the dearest wishes of his heart ? It was the very
cry of fallible humanity, which, because it yearns
for something as yet unattainable, looks on disap-
pointment to his wishes as a personal and malicious
wrong done to himself by the powers that be. In
this state of intellectual and moral depravity, he
found a solace in the renewal of his experiments
with the mechanical powers of the kite. This
study helped to take him out of himself, to bring
his esoteric woes in exoteric thought, even in
his bafflements had an element of comfort, though
a melancholy one. For quite a couple of weeks he
did not see Lady Arabella, who was always on the
watch for a chance of meeting him ; neither did he
see the Watford girls, who studiously kept out
of his way. Adam Salton simply marked time,
keeping himself ready to deal with anything at his

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The Shutting of the Door 139

hands that might affect his friends. He heard
from Mimi of the last battle of wills, but it
had only one consequence of one kind. He got
from Ross several more mongooses, including
a second king-cobra-killer, which he generally
carried with him in its box whenever he walked
out.

He constantly saw Sir Nathaniel de Salis, and the
two talked over the things that happened, and they
remembered all the things that had been before
these ; so that the two who thought and remembered
seemed also to know what would be before it too
happened.

Mr Caswall’s experiments with the kite went on
successfully. Each day he tried the lifting of
greater weight, and it seemed almost as if the
machine had a sentience of its own, which was
increasing with the obstacles placed before it. All
this time the kite hung in the sky at an enormous
height. The wind was steadily from the north,
so the trend of the kite was to the south. All day
long, runners of increasing magnitude were sent up.
These were only of paper or thin cardboard, or
leather, or other flexible materials. The great
height at which the kite hung made a great concave
curve in the string, so that as the runners went up
they made a flapping sound. If one laid a hand or
a finger on the string, the sound answered to the
flapping of the runner in a sort of hollow inter-
mittent murmur. Edgar Caswall, who was now

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140 The Lair of the White Worm

wholly obsessed by the kite and all belong-
ing to it, found a distinct resemblance between
that intermittent rumble and the snake-charm-
ing music produced by the pigeons flying
through the dry reeds whilst the seolian harp
was playing.

One day he made a discovery in Mesmer’s chest
which he thought he would utilise with regard to
the runners. This was a great length of wire “ fine
as human hair,” coiled round a finely made wheel,
which ran to a wondrous distance freely, and as
lightly. He tried this on runners, and found it
worked admirably. Whether the runner was alone,
or carried something much more weighty than
itself, it worked equally well. Also it was strong
enough and light enough to easily draw back the
runner without undue strain. He tried this a
good many times successfully, but it was now
growing dusk and he found some difficulty in keeping
the runner in sight. So he looked for something
heavy enough to keep it still. He placed this,
which happened to be the Egyptian image of Bes,
on the fine wire whioh crossed the wooden ledge
which protected it. Then the darkness growing,
he went indoors and forgot all about it. He had
a strange feeling of uneasiness that night — not
sleeplessness, for he was consoious of being asleep.
At daylight he rose, and as usual looked out for
the kite. He did not see it in its usual position in
the sky, so took a glass and looked all round the

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The Shutting of the Door 14 1

points of the compass. He was more than astonished
when presently he saw the missing kite struggling
as customary against the controlling string. But
it had gone to the further side of the tower, and now
hung and strained against the wind to the north.
He thought it so strange that he determined to
investigate the phenomenon, and to say nothing
about it in the meantime. In his many travels,
Edgar Caswall had been accustomed to use the
sextant, and was now an expert in the matter. By
the aid of this and other instruments of the kind,
he was able to fix the exact position of the kite
and the point over which it hung. He was actually
startled to find exactly under it — so far as he could
ascertain — was Diana’s Grove. He had an inclina-
tion to take Lady Arabella into his confidence in the
matter, but he thought better of it and wisely
refrained. For some reason which he did not even
try to explain to himself, he was glad of his silence,
when on the following morning he found, on looking
out, that the point over which the kite then hovered
was Mercy Farm. When he had verified this with
his instruments, he sat before the window of the
tower, looking out and thinking. The new locality
was more to his liking than the other ; but the why
of it puzzled him, all the same. He spent the rest
of the day in the turret-room, which he did not leave
all day. It seemed to him that he was now drawn
by forces which he could not control— of which,
indeed, he had no knowledge — in directions which he

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142 The Lair of the White Worm

did not understand, and which were without his
own volition. In sheer helpless inability to think
the problem out satisfactorily, he called up a servant
and told him to tell Oolanga that he wanted to see
him at once in the turret-room. The answer came
back that the African had not been seen since the
previous evening. He was now so irritable that even
this small thing upset him. As he was distrait
and wanted to talk to somebody, he sent for Simon
Chester, who came at once, breathless with hurrying
and upset by the unexpected summons. Caswall
made him sit down, and when the old man was in a
less uneasy frame of mind, he again asked him if
he had ever seen what was in Mesmer’s chest or
heard it spoken of. Chester admitted that he had
once in the time of “ the then Mr Edgar ” seen the
chest open, which, knowing something of its history
and guessing more, so upset him that he had fainted.
When he recovered, the chest was closed. From
that time the then Mr Edgar had never spoken
about it again.

When Caswall asked him to describe what he
had seen when the chest was open, he got very
agitated, and, despite all his efforts to remain calm,
he suddenly went off into a dead faint. Caswall
s umm oned servants, who applied the usual remedies.
Still the old man did not recover. After the lapse
of a considerable time, the doctor who had been
summoned made his appearance. A glance was
sufficient for him to make up his mind. Still,

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The Shutting of the Door 143

he knelt down by the old man, and made a careful
examination. Then he rose to his feet, and in a
hushed voice said :

“ I grieve to say, sir, that he has passed
away.”

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CHAPTER XVIH

ON THE TRACK

Thosb who had seen Edgar Caswall familiarly
since his arrival, and had already estimated his
cold-blooded nature at something of its true value,
were surprised that he took so to heart the death
of old Chester. The fact was that not one of them
had guessed correctly at his character. Good,
simple souls, they had estimated it by their own.
They thought, and naturally enough, that the
concern which he felt was that of a master for a
faithful old servant of his family. They little
thought that it was merely the selfish expression
of his disappointment that he had lost the only
remaining clue to an interesting piece of family
history — one which was now and would be for
ever wrapped in mystery. Caswall knew enough
of the life of his ancestor in Paris to wish to know
more fully and more thoroughly all that had been.
The period covered by that ancestor’s life in Paris
was one inviting every form of curiosity. The only
one who seemed to believe in the sincerity of his
sorrow was Lady Arabella, who had her own game
to play, and who saw in the miller of sympathetic

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On the Track 145

friend a series of meetings with the man she wanted
to get hold of. She made the first use of the oppor-
tunity the day after old Chester’s death ; indeed,
so soon as ever the news had filtered in through
the back door of Diana’s Grove. At that meeting,
she played her part so well that even Caswall’s cold
nature was impressed. Oolanga was the only one
who did not credit her with at least some sense of
fine feeling in the matter. But this was only
natural, for he was perhaps the only one who did
not know what fine feeling meant. In emotional,
as in other matters, Oolanga was distinctly a
utilitarian, and as he could not understand any-
one feeling grief except for his own suffering pain
or for the loss of money, he could not understand
anyone simulating such an emotion except for
show intended to deceive. He thought that she
had come to Castra Regis again for the opportunity
of stealing something, and was determined that on
this occasion the chance of pressing his advantage
over her should not pass. He felt, therefore, that
the occasion was one for extra carefulness in the
watching of all that went on. Ever since he had
come to the conclusion that Lady Arabella was
trying to steal the treasure-chest, he suspected
nearly everyone of the same design, and, as the
night generally is friendly to thieves, he made it
a point to watch all suspicious persons and places
when night is merging into dawn and dawn into
day. At that time, too, the active faculties of the

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146 The Lair of the White Worm

mind are not at their best. Sleep is a factor of
carelessness to be counted on, and, as it affects
both thief and guardian, may be doubly useful
both to learn and to do. The dawn, therefore,
generally found him on the watch ; and as this
was the period also when Adam was engaged on
his own researches regarding Lady Arabella, it
was only natural that there should be some crossing
of each other’s tracks. This is what did happen.
Nature is a logician, and what does happen is
generally what ought to happen if the chances are
in its favour. Adam had gone for an early morning
survey of the place in which he was interested,
taking with him, as usual, the mongoose in its box.
He arrived at the gate of Diana’s Grove just as
Lady Arabella was preparing to set out for Castra
Regis on what she considered her mission of com-
fort. And she, seeing from her window Adam in
a mysterious way going through the shadows of
the trees round the gate, thought that he must be
engaged on some purpose similar to her own. So,
quickly making her toilet, she quietly left the
house without arousing anybody, and, taking
advantage of every shadow and substance which
could hide her from him, followed him on his
walk. Oolanga, the experienced tracker, followed
her, but succeeded in hiding his movements better
than she did. He saw that Adam had hung on
his shoulder the mysterious box, which he took
to contain something valuable. Seeing that Lady

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On the Track

147

Arabella was secretly following hi m , confirmed
this idea. His mind — such as it was — was fixed
on her trying to steal, and he credited her at once
with making use of this new opportunity. In his
walk, Adam went into the grounds of Castra Regis,
and Oolanga saw her follow him, with great secrecy.
He feared to go closer, as now on both sides of him
were enemies who might make discovery. There-
fore, when he ascertained that Lady Arabella was
bound for the Castle, he devoted himself to follow-
ing her with singleness of purpose. He therefore
missed seeing that Adam branched off the track
he was following and returned to the high road,
and that she, seemingly not interested in his
further movements, took her course to the Castle.

That night Edgar Caswall had slept badly. The
tragic occurrence of the day was on his mind, and
he kept waking and thinking of it. At the early
dawn he rose and, wrapping himself in a heavy
dressing-gown, sat at the open window watching
the kite and thinking of many things. From his
room he could see all round the neighbourhood,
and as the morning advanced, its revealing light
showed him all the little happenings of the place.
His life had not had much interest for him in the
doings of other people, and he had no distinct idea
of how many little things went to make up the
sum of an ordinary person’s daily life. This bird’s-
eye view of a community engaged in its ordinary
avocations at even this early hour was something

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148 The Lair of the White Worm

new to him. He set himself to watch it as a new
interest. His cold nature had no place for sym-
pathy for lesser things than himself ; but this
was a study to be followed just as he would have
watched the movements of a colony of ants or bees
or other creatures of little interest individually.
He saw, as the light grew more searching, the be-
ginnings of the day for humble people. He saw
the movements which followed waking life. He
even began to exercise his imagination in trying
to understand the why and the wherefore of each
individual movement. As soon as he was able to
recognise individual houses as they emerged from
the mass of darkness or obscurity, he became
specially interested in all that went on around
him. The two places that interested him most
were Mercy Farm and Diana’s Grove. At first
the movements were of a humble kind — those that
belonged to domestic service or agricultural needs
— the opening of doors and windows, the sweeping
and brushing, and generally the restoration of
habitual order. Then the farm servants made
preparations for the comfort of the cattle and
other animals ; the drawing of water, the carrying
of food, the alterations of bedding, the removal
of waste, and the thousand offices entailed by the
needs of living things. To Caswall, self-absorbed,
disdainful, selfish egotist, this bird’s-eye view was
a new and interesting experience of the revolution
of cosmic effort. He was so interested with this

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Oolanga' s black face . . . peering out from a clump of evergreens

[facing page 148,

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On the Track

149

new experience that the dim hours of the morning
slipped by unnoticed. The day was in full flow
when he bethought him of his surroundings. He
could now distinguish things and people, even at
a distance. He could see Lady Arabella, whose
blinds had been drawn and windows opened, move
about in her room, the white dress which she wore
standing out against the darker furniture of her
room. He saw that she was already dressed for
out of doors. As he looked, he saw her suddenly
rise and look out of the window, keeping herself
carefully concealed behind the curtain, and, follow-
ing the direction in which her face was turned,
he saw Adam Salton, with a box slung on his
shoulder, moving in the shadow of the clump of
trees outside her gate. He noticed that she quickly
left the room, and in another minute was following
Salton down the road in the direction of Castra
Regis, carefully avoiding observation as she went.
Then he was surprised to see Oolanga’s black face
and rolling white eyeballs peering out from a
clump of evergreens in the avenue. He too was
watching.

From his high window — whose height was alone
a screen from the observation of others — he saw
the chain of watchers move into his own grounds,
and then presently break up, Adam Salton
going one way, and Lady Arabella, followed by
the nigger, another. Then Oolanga disappeared
amongst the trees ; but Caswa^l could see that he

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150 The Lair of the White Worm

was still watching. Lady Arabella, after looking
around her, slipped in by the open door, and he
could, of course, see her no longer.

Presently, however, he heard a light tap at his
door — a tap so light that he only knew it was a
tap at all when it was repeated. Then the door
opened very, very slowly, and he could see the flash
of Lady Arabella’s white dress through the opening.

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CHAPTER XIX

A VISIT OF SYMPATHY

Caswall was genuinely surprised when he saw
Lady Arabella, though he need not have been
surprised after what had already occurred in the
same way. The look of surprise on his face was so
much greater than Lady Arabella had expected —
though she thought she was prepared to meet
anything that might occur — that she stood still,
open-eyed in sheer amazement. Cold-blooded as
she was and ready for all social emergencies, she was
nonplussed how to go on. She was plucky, how-
ever, and began to speak at once, although she had
not the slightest idea what she was going to say.
Had she been told that she was beginning to propose
to a man, she would have indignantly denied it.

“ I came to offer you my very, very warm
sympathy with the grief you have so lately
experienced.”

There was a new surprise in his voice as he replied :
“ My grief ? I am afraid I must be very dull ;
but I really do not understand.”

Already she felt at a disadvantage, and hesitated
as she went on :

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152 The Lair of the White Worm

“ I mean about the old man who died so suddenly
— your old . . . retainer/’

CaswalTs face relaxed something of its puzzled
concentration :

“ Oh, him ! I hope you don’t think he was any
source of grief. Why, he was only a servant ; and
he had overstayed his three-score and ten years by
something like twenty years. He must have been
ninety, if he was a day ! ”

“ Still, as an old servant . . . ! ”

Caswall’s words were not so cold as their inflection.

“ I never interfere with servants. Besides,
I never saw or heard of him. He was kept on here
merely because he had been so long on the premises,
or for some other idiotic reason. I suppose the
steward thought it might make him unpopular if
he were to be dismissed. All that is nonsense.
There is no sentiment in business ; if he is a senti-
mentalist, he has no right to be a steward of another
man’s property ! ”

Somehow this tone almost appalled her. How on
earth was she to proceed on such a task as hers if
this was the utmost geniality she could expect ?
So she at once tried another tack — this time a
personal one :

" I am very sorry I disturbed you. I took a
great liberty in the so doing. I am really not
unconventional — and certainly no slave to conven-
tion. Still there are limits. ... It is bad enough
to intrude in this way, and I do not know what you

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A Visit of Sympathy 153

can say or think of the time selected for the
intrusion.’ 1

After all, Edgar Caswall was a gentleman by
custom or habit, so he rose to the occasion :

“ I can only say, Lady Arabella, that you are
always welcome at any time when you may deign
to honour my house with your presence.”

She smiled at him sweetly as she said :

“ Thank you so much. You do put one at ease.
A breach of convention with you makes me glad
rather than sorry. I feel that I can open my heart
to you about anything.”

Caswall smiled in his turn.

“ Such consideration and understanding as yours
are almost prohibitive of breach of convention.”

“ Try me. If I stand the test it will be another
link between us.”

“ That, indeed, would be a privilege. Come,
I will try you.”

Forthwith she proceeded to tell him about
Oolanga and his strange suspicions of her honesty.
He laughed heartily and made her explain all the
details. He laughed genuinely at her reading of
Oolanga’s designs, which he did not even dignify
with the sobriquet of insolence. His final comment
was enlightening.

“ Let me give you a word of advice : If you have
the slightest fault to find with that infernal nigger,
shoot him on sight. A swelled-headed nigger with
a bee in his bonnet is one of the worst difficulties

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154 The Lair of the White Worm

in the world to deal with. So better make a clean
job of it, and wipe him out at once ! ”

“ But what about the law, Mr Caswall ? ”

“ Oh, the law is all right. But even the law
doesn’t concern itself much about dead niggers.
A few more or less of them does not matter. To
my mind it’s rather a relief ! ”

“ I’m afraid of you,” was her only comment,
made with a sweet smile and in a soft voice.

“ All right,” he said, “ let us leave it at that.
Anyhow, we shall be rid of one of them ! ”

“ I don’t love niggers more than you do,” she
said, “ but I suppose one mustn’t be too particular
where that sort of cleaning up is concerned.”

Then she changed in voice and manner, and asked
genially :

“ And now tell me, am I forgiven ? ”

“ You are, dear lady — if there be anything to
forgive.”

As he spoke, seeing that she had moved to go,
he came to the door with her, and in the most
natural way accompanied her downstairs. He
passed through the hall door with her and down
the avenue. As he went back to the house, she
smiled to herself and took herself into her own
confidence in a whisper :

“ Well, that is all right. I don’t think the
morning has been altogether thrown away.”

And she walked slowly back to Diana’s Grove.
When Adam Salton separated from Lady Arabella

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A Visit of Sympathy 155

he continued the walk which he had begun. He
followed the line of the Brow, and refreshed his
memory as to the various localities. He got home
to Lesser Hill just as Sir Nathaniel was beginning
breakfast. Mr Salton had gone to Walsall to keep
an early appointment ; so he was all alone. When
breakfast was over, he, seeing in Adam’s face that
he had something to speak about, followed into the
study and shut the door.

When the two men had lighted their pipes, Sir
Nathaniel began :

“ Since we talked, I have remembered an interest-
ing fact about Diana’s Grove that I intended to have
mentioned earlier, only that something put it out
of my head. It is about the house, not the Grove.
There is, I have long understood, some strange
mystery about that house. It may be of some
interest, or it may be trivial, in such a tangled skein
as we are trying to unravel.”

“ I am listening. Please tell me all — all you know
or suspect, and I shall try to form an opinion. To
begin, then, of what sort is the mystery — physical,
mental, moral, historical, scientific, occult ? Any
kind of hint will help me.”

“ Well, my dear boy, the fact is, I don’t know ! ”
“ Don’t know, sir ? ”

“ That is not so strange as it may appear. It
may belong to any or all of these categories.
Naturally, you are incredulous of such complete
ignorance ’ ’

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156 The Lair of the White Worm

“ Oh, sir, I would not doubt you.”

“ No, of course not. But all the same, you may
not be able to believe or understand. Of course
I understand your reluctance to speak of a doubt.
But that applies not to the fact, but to the manner
of expressing it. Be quite assured. I fully accept
your belief in my bona fides. But we have diffi-
culties to encounter, barriers to pass ; so we must
trust each other to speak the truth even if we do
not understand it ourselves.”

Adam was silent for a few moments, and then
said, with his face brightening :

“ I think, sir, the best way we can go on is to tell
each other facts. Explanation may bring necessary
doubt ; but we shall have something to go on ! ”

“ Quite right. I shall try to tell you what I
think; but I have not put my thoughts on the
subject in sequence, and so you must forgive
me if due order is not observed in my narration.
I suppose you have seen the house at Diana’s
Grove?”

“ With the outside of it ; but I have that in my
mind’s eye, and I can fit into my memory whatever
you may call my attention to.”

“ Good ! Well, I shall just tell you, to begin with,
what I know, and I may happen to know more of
it than you do.

“ The house is very old — probably the first house
of some sort that stood there was in the time of the
Romans. This was probably renewed — perhaps

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A Visit of Sympathy 157

several times at later periods. The house stands, or,
rather, used to stand as it is when Mercia was a
kingdom — I do not suppose that the basement was
later than the Norman Conquest. Some years ago,
when I was President of the Mercian Archaeological
Society, I went all over it very carefully. This was
before it was purchased by Captain March. The
house had then been done up so as to be suitable
to bring the bride to. The basement is very
strange — almost as strong and as heavy as if it was
intended to be a fortress. There are a whole series
of rooms deep underground. One of them in
particular struck me. The room itself is of consider-
able size, but the masonry is more than massive.
In the middle of the room is a sunk well, built
up to floor level and evidently going to deep
underground. There is no windlass or any trace
of there ever having been any — no rope — no-
thing. Now, we know that even the Romans
had wells of immense depth from which the water
was lifted by the ‘ old rag rope 9 ; that at Woodhull
used to be nearly a thousand feet. Here, then, we
have simply an enormously deep well-hole. The
door of the room when I saw it was massive, and
was fastened with a lock nearly two feet square.
It was evidently intended for some kind of protec-
tion to something or someone ; but no one in those
days when I made the visit had ever heard of
anyone having been allowed even to see the room.
All this is d projpos of the suggestion of which I have

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158 The Lair of the White Worm

hinted that the well-hole was a way by which the
White Worm (whatever it was) went and came. At
that time I would have had search made, even
excavation if necessary, at my own expense, but
all suggestions were met with a prompt and explicit
negative. So, of course, I took no further step in
the matter. Then it died out of recollection — even
of mine.”

“ Do you remember, sir,” asked Adam, “ what
was the appearance of the room where the well-
hole was ? And was there furniture — in fact,
any sort of thing in the room ? ”

“ I do not remember. It was all very dark —
so dark that it was impossible to distinguish any-
thing. The only thing I do remember was a sort
of green light — very clouded — very dim, which
came up from the well. Not a fixed light, but
intermittent and irregular. Quite unlike anything
I had ever seen.”

“ Do you remember how you got into that room —
the well-room ? Was there a separate door from
outside, or was there any interior room or passage
which opened into it ? ”

“ I think there must have been some room with
a way into it. I remember going up some steep
steps by which I came into the well-room. They
must have been worn smooth by long use or some-
thing of the kind, for I could hardly keep my feet as
I went up. Once I stumbled and nearly fell into
the well-hole. I was more careful after that.”

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A Visit of Sympathy 159

“ Was there anything strange about the place —
any queer smell, for instance ? ”

“ Queer smell ? — yes. Like bilge or a rank
swamp.

“ It was distinctly nauseating ; I remember that
when I came out I felt that I had been just going
to be physically sick. I shall try back on my visit
and see if I can recall any more of what I saw or
felt.”

“ Then perhaps, sir, later in the day you will
kindly tell me anything you may chance to
recollect.”

“ I shall be delighted, Adam. If your uncle
has not returned by then, I shall join you in the
study after dinner, and we shall resume this interest-
ing chat.”

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CHAPTER XX

THE MYSTERY OF “ THE GROVE ”

When Adam, after leaving Lady Arabella, went
on his own road outside Castra Regis, Oolanga
followed him in secret. Adam had at first an idea,
or rather a suspicion, that he was being followed,
and looked around a good many times in the hope
of making discovery of his pursuer. Not being
successful in any of these attempts, he gradually
gave up the idea, and accepted the alternative that
he had been mistaken. He wondered what had
become of the nigger, whom he had certainly seen
at first, so kept a sharp look-out for him as he
went on his way. As he passed through the little
wood outside the gate of Diana’s Grove, he thought
he saw the African’s face for an instant. He knew
it must be him; otherwise, there must be a devil
wandering loose somewhere in the neighbourhood.
So he went deeper into the undergrowth, and
followed along parallel to the avenue to the house.
He was, in a way, glad that there was no workman
or servant about, for he did not care that any of
Lady Arabella’s people should find him wandering
about her grounds at such an hour. Taking

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The Mystery of “The Grove” 161

advantage of the thickness of the trees, he came
close to the house and skirted round it. He was
repaid for his trouble, for on the far side of the
house, close to where the rocky frontage of the
cliff fell away, he saw Oolanga crouched behind
the irregular trunk of a great oak. The man was
so intent on watching someone, or something, that
he did not guard against being himself watched.
This suited Adam, for he could thus make scrutiny
at will. The thick wood, though the trees were
mostly of small girth, threw a heavy shadow, in
addition to that made by the early sun being in
the east, so that the steep declension, in front of
which grew the tree behind which the African
lurked, was almost in darkness. Adam drew as
close as he could, and was amazed to see a patch
of light on the ground before him ; when he
realised what it was, he was determined more than
ever to follow on his quest. The nigger had a
dark lantern in his hand, and was throwing the
light down the steep incline. The glare showed
that the decline, which was in a sort of sunken
way, emerged on a series of stone steps, which
ended in a low-lying heavy iron door fixed against
the side of the house. His mind was in a whirl.
All the strange things he had heard from Sir
Nathaniel, and all those, little and big, which he
had himself noticed, crowded into his mind in a
chaotic way, such as mark the intelligence con-
veyed in a nightmare. Instinctively he took

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1 62 The Lair of the White Worm

refuge from the possibility of Oolanga seeing him
behind a thick oak stem, and set himself down to
watch what might occur.

After a very short time it was apparent that the
African was trying to find out what was behind
the heavy door. There was no way of looking in,
for the door fitted tight into the massive stone
slabs. The only opportunity for the entrance of
light was through a small hole left in the building
between the great stones above the door. This
hole was much too high up to look through from
the ground level. The nigger was so intent on
his effort to see beyond this, that Adam found there
was no necessity for his own careful concealment,
which was a considerable help to him in his task.
Oolanga, having tried standing tiptoe on the
highest point near, and holding the lantern as
high as he could, threw the light round the edges
of the door to see if he could find anywhere a hole
or a flaw in the metal through which he could
obtain a glimpse. Foiled in this, he brought from
the shrubbery a plank, which he leant against the
top of the door and then climbed up with great
dexterity. This did not bring him near enough to
the window-hole to look in, or even to throw the
light of the lantern through it, so he climbed
down and carried the plank back to the place
from which he had got it. Then he concealed
himself near the iron door and waited, manifestly
with the intent of remaining there till someone

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The Mystery of “The Grove” 163

oame near. Presently Lady Arabella, moving
noiselessly through the shade, approached the
door. When he saw her close enough to touch it,
Oolanga stepped forward from his concealment,
and said in a whisper, which through the gloom
sounded like a hiss :

“ I want to see you, missy — soon and
secret.”

Her lip curled in scorn as she answered :

“ You see me now. What do you want ? What
is it ? ”

“ You know well, missy. I told you already.”

She turned on him with her eyes blazing, so that
the green tint in them shone like emeralds.

“ Come, none of that. If there is anything
sensible which you may wish to say to me, you
can see me here, just where we are, at seven
o’clock.”

He made no reply in words, but, putting the
backs of his hands together, bent lower and lower
still till his forehead touched the earth. She
stood stone-still, which seeing, he rose and went
slowly away. Adam Salton, from his hiding-place,
saw and wondered. In a few minutes he moved
from his place and went away home to Lesser
Hill, fully determined that seven o’clock would
find him in some hidden place behind Diana’s
Grove.

When he got home he placed the box containing
the mongoose in the gun-room. Not having any

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164 The Lair of the White Worm

immediate intention of making use of the animal,
it passed quite out of his mind.

At a little before seven Adam stole softly out of
the house and took the back-way to the rear of
Diana’s Grove. The place seemed silent and de-
serted, so he took the opportunity of concealing
himself near the spot whence he had seen Oolanga
trying to investigate whatever was concealed
behind the iron door. He was quite content when
he found himself safely ensconced in his hiding-
place. He waited, perfectly still, and at last saw
a gleam of white passing soundlessly through the
undergrowth. He was not surprised when he
recognised the shape and colour of Lady Arabella’s
dress. She came close and waited, with her face
to the iron door. From some place of conceal-
ment near at hand Oolanga appeared, and came
close to her. Adam noticed with surprised amuse-
ment that over his shoulder was his, Adam’s, box
with the mongoose. Of course the African did
not know that he was seen by anyone, least of
all by the man whose property he had in possession.
Silent-footed as he was, Lady Arabella heard him
coming, and turned to meet him. It was some-
what hard to see in the gloom, for, as usual, he was
all in black, only his collar and cuffs showing white.
The black of his face helped with that of his cloth-
ing in eating up what faint light there was. Lady
Arabella opened the conversation which ensued
between the two :

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The Mystery of “The Grove” 165

“ I see you are here — what do you want ? To
rob me, or murder me ? ”

“ No, to lub you ! ”

This, getting explicit so soon, frightened her a
little, and she tried to change the tone :

Is that a coffin you have with you ? If so,

you are wasting your time. It would not hold

„„ »

me.

When a nigger suspects he is being laughed at,
all the ferocity of his nature comes to the front ;
and as the man was naturally of the lowest kind,
the usual was to be expected :

“ Dis ain’t no coffin for nobody. Quite opposite.
Die box is for you. Somefin you lub. Me give
him to you ! ”

Still anxious to keep off the subject of affection,
on which she believed him to have become crazed,
she made another effort to keep his mind elsewhere :
“ Is this why you want to see me ? ”

He nodded.

She went on : “ Then come round to the other
door. And be quiet. I have no particular desire
to be seen so close to my own house in conversa-
tion with a — a — a nigger like you ! ”

She had chosen the word of dishonour deliber-
ately. She wished to meet his passion with an-
other kind. Such would, at all events, help to keep
him quiet. In the deep gloom she could not see
the anger which suffused his face. Bolling eye-
balls and grinding teeth are, however, sufficient

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1 66 The Lair of the White Worm

indices of anger to be decipherable in the dark.
She moved round the comer of the house to her
right hand. Oolanga was following her, when she
stopped him by raising her hand :

“ No, not that door,” she said : “ that is not for
niggers. The other door will do well enough for
that ! ”

There was such scorn in her voice — scorn carried
to a positive quality with malignity added — that
the African writhed. Suddenly he stopped as if
turned into stone, and said in a voice, whose very
quietude was dangerous :

“ Gib me your gun.”

Unthinkingly, she pulled out the revolver, which
was in her breast, and handed it to him :

“ Do you want to kill me ? ” she said. “ Go on.
I am not afraid of you ; but, remember, you will
swing for it. This is not Benin or Ashantee — this
is England ! ”

He answered in an even voice :

“ Don’t fear, missee. Gun no to kill nobody.
Only to protect myself.”

He saw the wonder in her face, and ex-
plained :

“ I heard this morning what master said in his
room. You no thought I heard. He say, ‘ If you
have any fault to find with that infernal nigger ’ —
he said that — ‘ shoot him on sight.’ Now you call
me nigger, speak to me like a dog. And you want
me to go into your house by door which I not

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The Mystery of “ The Grove” 167

know. Gun safer now with me. Safer for Oolanga
if gun wanted to hurt him.”

“ What have you in that box ? ”

“ That is treasure for you, missee. I take eare
of it, and give it to you when we get in.”

Lady Arabella took in her hand a small key
which hung at the end of her watch-chain, and
moved to a small door, low down, round the comer,
and a little downhill from the edge of the Brow.
Oolanga, in obedience to her gesture, went back to
the iron door. Adam looked carefully at the mon-
goose box as the African went by, and was glad
to see that it was locked. Unconsciously, as he
looked, he fingered the key that was in his waist-
coat pocket. When Oolanga was out of sight,
Lady Arabella, who had waited quite still, said
to him :

“ Mr Salton, will you oblige me by coming with
me for a few minutes ? I have to see that — that
coloured person — on a matter of business, and I
do not care to see him alone. I shall be happier
with a witness. Do you mind obliging me, and
coming ? It will be very kind of you.”

He bowed, and walked with her to the door
round the comer.

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CHAPTER XXI

EXIT OOLANGA

The moment they got out of sight of the nigger,
Adam said to Lady Arabella :

“ One moment whilst we are alone. You had
better not trust that nigger ! ”

Her answer was crisp and concise :

“ I don’t.”

“ Forewarned is forearmed. Tell me if you will —
it is for your own protection. Why do you mistrust
him ? ”

“ It is an odd story, but I had better tell you,
though, in truth, it is somewhat humiliating —
disturbing — to my amour propre. He is a thief —
at least, so I gather from his readiness to commit
a felony. Then you saw that he took my pistol
practically under threat. Again he wants to
blackmail me — oh I have lots of reasons to distrust
him.”

“ He blackmail you ! The scoundrel ! But how
could he hope to do such a thing ? ”

“ My friend, you have no idea of that man’s
impudence. Would you believe that he wants
me to marry him ? ”

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Exit Oolanga 1 69

“ No ! ” said Adam incredulously, amused in
spite of himself.

“ Yes, and wanted to bribe me to do it by sharing
a chest of treasure — at least, he thought it was —
stolen from Mr Caswall. Why do you yourself
distrust him, Mr Salton ? ”

“ I shall give you an instance. Did you notice
that box he had slung on his shoulder ? That
belongs to me. I left it in the gun-room when I
went to lunch. He must have crept in and stolen
it. Doubtless he thinks that it, too, is full of
treasure.”

“ He does ! ”

“ How on earth do you know? ” asked Adam.

“ A little while ago he offered to give it to me
— another bribe to accept him. Faugh ! I am
ashamed to tell you such a thing. The beast ! ”

“ You say he has an appointment to see you ? ”
asked Adam.

“ Yes, that was his reason for taking my revolver.
He thought perhaps, naturally enough, that I
should want to shoot him.”

“ You would be all right for anything of that
sort with him — if I were on the jury.”

“ Oh, he isn’t worth it. After all, even a bullet is
of some, little value.”

“ Don’t alarm yourself, Lady Arabella. You
shan’t have to do any dirty work. I have a gun ! ”
As he spoke, he took from his pistol pocket a revolver
carrying an ounce ball. “ I mention this now to

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170 The Lair of the White Worm

make and keep your mind at rest. Moreover, I
am a good and a quick shot.”

“ Thanks ! ”

“ By the way, in case there should be any need
to know later, what revolver do you use ? ”

“ Weiss of Paris, No. 3,” she answered. “ And
you ? ”

“ Smith and Wesson, ‘ The Ready ! 9 ”

“ You noticed, I suppose, how deftly he stole it ? ”
Adam was astonished — with quite a new astonish-
ment. It had been so dark that he himself had
only been able to see the general movement as
Oolanga had annexed the pistol. And yet, this
woman had seen the smallest details. She must
have wonderful eyes to see in the dark like that !

Whilst they had been speaking, she had opened
the door, a narrow iron one well hung, for it had
opened easily and closed tightly without any
creaking or sound of any kind. Within all was
dark ; but she entered as freely and with as little
misgiving or restraint as if it had been broad day-
light. For Adam, there was just sufficient green
light from somewhere to see that there was a broad
flight of heavy stone steps leading upward ; but
Lady Arabella, after shutting the door behind her,
when it closed tightly without a clang, tripped up
the steps lightly and swiftly. For an instant all
was dark again, but there came again the faint
green light which enabled him to see the outlines
of things. Another iron door, narrow like the first

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Exit Oolanga 1 7 1

and fairly high, led into another large room, the
walls of which were of massive stones so closely
joined together as to exhibit only one smooth
surface. This too presented the appearance of
having at one time been polished. On the far
side, also smooth like the walls, was the reverse
of a great wide but not high iron door. Here
there was a little more light, for the high-up aperture
over the door opened to the air. Lady Arabella
took from her girdle another small key, which she
inserted in a tiny keyhole in the centre of a massive
lock, which seemed the counterpart and reverse
of the lock of some two feet square which Adam
had noted on the outside of the door. The great
bolt seemed wonderfully hung, for the moment
the small key was turned the bolts of the great
lock moved noiselessly and the iron doors swung
open. On the stone steps outside stood Oolanga
with the mongoose box slung over his shoulder.
Lady Arabella stood a little on one side and moved
back a few feet, and the African, accepting the
movement as an invitation, entered in an obsequious
way. The moment, however, that he was inside,
he gave a quick look around him, and in an oily
voice, which made Adam shudder, said with a sniff :

“ Much death here — big death. Many deaths.
Good, good ! ”

He sniffed round as if he was enjoying a scent.
The matter and manner of his speech were so re-
volting that instinctively Adam’s hand wandered

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172 The Lair of the White Worm

to his revolver, and, with his finger on the trigger,
rested satisfied that he was ready for any
emergency.

Oolanga seemed more “ crawly ” than ever in
his movements. He unslung the box from his
shoulder and put it on a stone ledge which ran
along the side of the room to the right of the iron
door, saying as he looked towards Adam :

“ I have brought your box, master, as I thought
you would want it. Also the key which I got from
your servant.”

He laid this beside the box, and began to sniff
again with an excellent pretence of enjoyment,
raising his nose as he turned his head round as if
to breathe all the fragrance he could.

There was certainly opportunity for such enjoy-
ment, for the open well-hole was almost under his
nose, sending up such a stench as Almost made Adam
sick, though Lady Arabella seemed not to mind it
at all. It was like nothing that Adam had ever met
with. He compared it with all the noxious experi-
ences he ever had — the drainage of war hospitals,
of slaughter-houses, the refuse of dissecting rooms.
None of these were like it, though it had something
of them all, with, added, the sourness of chemical
waste and the poisonous effluvium of the bilge of a
water-logged ship whereon a multitude of rats
had been drowned. However, he was content not
to go any further in a search for analogy ; it was
quite bad enough to have to endure even for a

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173

Exit Oolanga

moment, without thinking of it. Besides, he was
lost in wonder at a physical peculiarity of Lady
Arabella. She seemed to be able to see as well in the
dark as in the light. In the gloom under the trees,
she had followed every movement of Oolanga. In
the Cimmerian darkness of the inner room she had
not been for a moment at a loss. It was wonderful.
He determined to watch for developments of this
strange power — when such should arrive. In the
meantime, he had plenty of use for his eyesight to
notice what was going on around him. The move-
ments of Oolanga alone were enough to keep his
eyes employed. Since the African had laid down
the box and the key, Adam had only taken his
eyes off it to watch anything seemingly more
pressing. He had an idea or an intuition that
before long that box would be of overwhelming
importance. It was by an intuition also that he
grasped his revolver and held it tight. He could
see that Oolanga was making up his mind to take
some step of which he was at present doubtful.
All in a moment it explained itself. He pulled out
from his breast Lady Arabella’s pistol and shot at
him, happily missing. Adam was himself usually
a quick shot, but this time his mind had been on
something else and he was not ready. However,
he was quick to carry out an intention, and he was
not a coward. In another second both men were
in grips. Beside them was the dark well-hole,
with that horrid effluvium stealing up from its

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mysterious depths. Adam and Oolanga both had
pistols. Lady Arabella, who had not one, was
probably the most ready of them all in the
theory of shooting, but that being impossible, she
made her effort in another way. Gliding forward
with inconceivable rapidity, she tried to seize the
African ; but he eluded her grasp, just missing, in
doing so, falling into the mysterious hole. As he
swayed back to firm foothold, he turned her own
gun on her and shot. Instinctively Adam leaped
at her assailant ; clutching at each other, they
tottered on the very brink. Lady Arabella’s
anger, now fully awake, was all for Oolanga. She
moved forward towards him with her bare hands
extended, and had just seized him when the catch
of the locked box from some movement from within
flew open, and the king-cobra-killer flew at her
with a venomous fury impossible to describe. As
it seized her throat she caught hold of it, and,
with a fury superior to its own, actually tore it
in two just as if it had been a sheet of paper. The
strength used for such an act must have been
terrific. In an instant, it seemed to spout blood
and entrails, and was hurled into the well-hole.
In another instant she had seized Oolanga, and with
a swift rush had drawn him, her white arms encir-
cling him, with her down into the gaping aperture.
As the forms flashed by him Adam saw a medley
of green and red lights blaze in a whirling circle,
and as it sank down into the well a pair of blazing

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Exit Oolanga

green eyes became fixed, sank lower and lower with
frightful rapidity, and disappeared, throwing up-
ward the green light whioh grew more and more
vivid every second. As the light sank into the
noisome depths, there oame a shriek which chilled
Adam’s very blood — a prolonged agony of pain and
terror which seemed to have no end.

Adam Salton felt that he would never be able
to free his mind from the memory of those last
dreadful moments. The gloom which surrounded
that horrible charnel pit, which seemed to go down
to the very bowels of the earth, conveyed from far
down the sights and sounds of the nethermost hell.
The ghastly fate of the African as he sank down to
his terrible doom, his black face growing grey with
terror, his white eyeballs, now like veined blood-
stone, rolling in the helpless extremity of fear. The
mysterious green light was in itself a milieu of
horror. And through it all the awful cry came up
from that fathomless pit, whose entrance was flooded
with gouts of fresh blood. Even the death of the
fearless little snake-killer — so fierce, so frightful,
as if stained with a ferocity which told of no living
force above earth, but only of the devils of the pit
— was only an incident. Adam was in a state of
intellectual tumult, which had no peer in his exist-
ence. He tried to rush away from the horrible
place ; even the baleful green light thrown up
through the gloomy well-shaft was dying away as
its source sank deeper into the primeval ooze. The

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darkness was closing in on him in overwhelming
density. Darkness in such a place and with such a
memory of it ! He made a wild rush forward —
slipt on the steps in some sticky, acrid-smelling
mass that felt and smelt like blood, and, falling
forward, felt his way into the inner room, where
the well-shaft was not. A faint green light began
to grow around him until it was sufficient to
see by. And then he rubbed his eyes in sheer
amazement. Up the stone steps from the narrow
door by which he had entered, glided the thin
white-clad figure of Lady Arabella, the only colour
to be seen on her being blood-marks on her face
and hands and throat. Otherwise, she was calm
and unruffled, as when earlier she stood aside for
him to pass in through the narrow iron door.

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CHAPTER XXH

SELF-JUSTIFICATION

Adam Salton went for a walk before returning to
Lesser Hill ; he felt that it might be well, not only
to steady his nerves, shaken by the horrible scene,
but to get his thoughts into some sort of order, so
as to be ready to enter on the matter with Sir
Nathaniel. He was a little embarrassed as to
telling his uncle, for already affairs had so vastly
progressed beyond his original view that he felt a
little doubtful as to what would be the old gentle-
man’s attitude when he should hear of the strange
events for the first time. He might take umbrage
that he had not been consulted or, at least, told of
the earlier happenings. At first there had only
been inferences from circumstances altogether out-
side his uncle and his household. Now there were
examples of half the crimes in the calendar, of
which there was already indisputable proof, to-
gether with dark and bloody mysteries, enough to
shake the nerves of the whole country-side. Mr
Salton would certainly not be satisfied at being
treated as an outsider with regard to such things,
most of which had points of contact with the

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interior of his own house. It was with an immense
sense of relief that Adam heard that he had tele-
graphed to the housekeeper that he was detained
by business at Walsall, where he would remain for
the night ; and that he would be back in the morn-
ing in time for breakfast. When Adam got home
after his walk, he found Sir Nathaniel just going
to bed. He did not say anything to him then of
what had happened, but contented himself with
arranging that they would walk together in the
early morning, as he had much to say that would
require serious attention.

Strangely enough he slept well, and awoke at
dawn with his mind clear and his nerves in their
usual unshaken condition. The maid brought up,
with his early morning cup of tea, a note which
had been found in the letter-box. It was from
Lady Arabella, and was evidently intended to put
him on his guard as to what he should say about
the previous evening. He read it over carefully
several times before he was satisfied that he had
taken in its full import.

“ Dear Mr Salton, — I cannot go to bed until
I have written to you, so you must forgive me if I
disturb you, and at an unseemly time. Indeed,
you must also forgive me if, in trying to do what is
right, I err in saying too much or too little. The
fact is that I am quite upset and unnerved by all
that has happened in this terrible night. I find

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Self-justification 179

it difficult even to write ; my hands shake so that
they are not under control, and I am trembling
all over with memory of the horrors we saw enacted
before our eyes. I am grieved beyond measure
that I should be, however partially or remotely, a
cause of this shock and horror coming on you.
Forgive me if you can, and do not think too hardly
of me. This I ask with confidence, for since we
shared together the danger — the very pangs — of
death, I feel that we should be to one another
something more than mere friends, that I may
lean on you and trust you, assured that your
sympathy and pity are for me. A common danger
draws, they say, even men together. How close,
then, must be the grasp of a poor, weak woman to
you, a brave, strong man, and we have together
looked into the eyes of Death. You really must
let me thank you for the friendliness, the help, the
confidence, the real aid at a time of deadly danger
and deadly fear which you showed me. That
awful man — I shall see him for ever in my dreams.
His black, malignant face will shut out all memory
of sunshine and happiness. I shall eternally see
his evil eyes as he threw himself into that well-hole
in a vain effort to escape from the inevitable con-
sequences of his own misdoing. The more I think
of it, the more apparent it seems to me that he had
premeditated the whole thing — of course, except his
own horrible death. He must have intended to
murder me, else why did he take away from me

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my pistol, the only weapon I had ? He probably
intended to murder you too. If he had known
you had a revolver, he would have tried to get that
also, I am sure. You know that women do not
reason — we know — that he meant to seize that
occasion also for stealing my emeralds.”

When next Adam saw her he asked :

“ How did it all come about ? ”

She explained simply, sweetly, and seeming to
say what she could in the man’s favour, but doubly
damning him whilst she did so.

“ Perhaps you have noticed — of course, I do not
blame if you have not; men are not supposed
to remember such trivial things — a fur collar I
occasionally wear — or rather wore, it is now. It is
one of my most valued treasures — an ermine collar
studded with emeralds. They are very fine ones, if
that is any justification to anything. It is an old
collar, with hanging pieces as well as those of the
collar proper. I had often seen the nigger’s eyes
gleam covetously when he looked at it. Un-
happily, I wore it yesterday. That may have
been the last cause that lured the poor man to
his doom. I hope you do not think me altogether
hard-hearted. Of course, as a Christian, I ought
to forgive my enemies, and this individual was
my enemy — he tried to murder me, and did rob
me ; but it is above my nature to forgive him
stealing my emeralds, which were an heirloom, and,
though valuable, in themselves of greater value to

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Self-justification 1 8 1

me from historical association. I mention these
things now, for I may not have an opportunity of
referring to them again.”

The letter went on :

“ I saw a look on your face as the nigger sank
into that terrible pit which I — probably wrongly —
mistook ; but it seemed to me you were surprised
at seeing what seemed to be my arms round his
neck. The fact is, on the very brink of the abyss
he tore the collar from my neck and threw it over
his own shoulder. That was the last thing of him
that I saw. When he- sank into the hole, I was
rushing from the iron door, which I pulled behind
me. I am glad to say I did, for it shut out from
me the awful sight. When I heard that soul-
sickening yell, which marked his disappearance in
the deep, darkling chasm, I was more glad than I
can say that my eyes were spared the pain and
horror which my ears had to endure. Even with
the fear and horror which I had so recently endured,
and the last awful moments which, although it
was through his own act, he had to suffer, I could
not forgive him — I have prayed ever since, and
will ever pray, for forgiveness of my unchristian
spirit. And it may one day come in God’s mercy.
I have endured the punishment ; the sweetness of
forgiveness of such an error may come in time.
Won’t you pray for me too ? ”

“ When I tore myself out of the villain’s grasp
as he sank into the well-hole, I flew upstairs to be

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1 82 The Lair of the White Worm

safe with you again. But it wad not till I was out
in the night, and saw the blessed stars gleaming
and flashing above me in their myriad beauty, that
I could realise what freedom meant. Freedom !
Freedom ! Not only from that noisome prison-
house, which has now such a memory, but from
the more noisome embrace of that hideous monster.
Whilst I live I shall always thank you for my
freedom. You must let me. A woman must
sometimes express her gratitude ; otherwise it is
too great to bear. I am not a sentimental girl
who merely likes to thank a man. I am a woman
who knows all, of bad as well as good, that life can
give. I have known what it is to love and to lose.
But there, you must not let me bring any un-
happiness into your life. I must live on — as I have
lived — alone, and, in addition, bear with other
woes the memory of this latest insult and horror.
I hardly know which is greatest or worst. In the
meantime, I must get away as quickly as possible
from Diana’s Grove. In the morning I shall go
up to town, where I shall remain for a week — I can-
not stay longer, as certain business affairs demand
my presence here after that time. I think, how-
ever, that a week in the rush of busy London,
surrounded with multitudes of busy, commonplace
people, will help to wear out — I cannot expect
total obliteration — the terrible images of the by-
gone night. When I can sleep easily — which will
be, I expect, after a day or two — I shall be fit to

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Self-justification 183

return home and take up again the burden which
will, I suppose, be always with me.

“ I shall be most happy to see you on my return —
or earlier, if my good fortune sends you on any
errand to London. I shall be in the Great
Eastern Hotel. In that busy spot we may forget
some of the dangers and horrors we have already
shared together. Adieu, and thank you, again and

again, for all your kindness and consideration to

>>

me.

Adam was naturally somewhat surprised by this
effusive epistle, but he determined to say nothing
of it to Sir Nathaniel until he should have thought
it well over.

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CHAPTER XXIII

AN ENEMY IN THE DARK

When Adam Salton met Sir Nathaniel de Salis at
breakfast, he was glad that he had taken the time
to turn things over in his mind. The result had
been that not only was he familiar with the facts
of everything, but he had already so far differenti-
ated them that he was now able to arrange them in
his own mind according to their values. Thus he was
in a position to form his own opinions, and to accept
any fact or any reading of it if at all credible ;
whatever was mysterious, or seemed to be mysteri-
ous, he frankly accepted as such, and held it apart
in his own mind for future investigation and dis-
cussion. The utility of this course was apparent
to him when he began to talk to Sir Nathaniel,
which was so soon as breakfast was over and they
had withdrawn to the study. They were alone,
for Mr Salton was not expected home till noon.
Breakfast had been a silent function, so it did
not interfere in any way with the process of
thought.

So soon as the door was closed, Sir Nathaniel
began :

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An Enemy in the Dark 185

“ I see, Adam, that much has occurred, and that
you have much to tell me and to consult about.”

“ That is so, sir. I suppose I had better begin
by telling you all I know — all that has happened
since I left you last evening ? ”

“ Quite right. Tell me all. It will be time
enough to look for meanings when we know facts —
that is, know them as we understand them to be.”
Accordingly Adam began, and gave him details
of all that had been during the previous evening.
He confined himself rigidly to the narration of
circumstances, taking care not * to colour events,
even impliedly, by any comment of his own, or
any opinion of the meaning of things which he did
not fully understand. At first, Sir Nathaniel
seemed disposed to ask some questions, but shortly
gave this over when he recognised that the narra-
tion was well thought over, concise and self-
explanatory. Thenceforth, he contented himself
with quick looks and glances, easily interpreted
or by some acquiescent motions of his hands, when
such could be convenient, to emphasise his idea of
the correctness of inference. He was so evidently
en rapport with Adam, that the latter was helped
and emboldened when the time came for his
statement of beliefs or inferences as to the meanings
of things. This suited Adam exactly — and also
Sir Nathaniel came to a quicker, more concise, and
more thorough understanding than he could other-
wise have done. Until Adam ceased speaking,

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having evidently come to an end of what he had to
say with regard to this section of his story, the
elder man made absolutely no comment whatever,
remaining silent, except on a very few occasions
asking an elucidatory question now and then. Even
when Adam, having finished the purely narrative
part of what he had seen and heard, took from
his pocket Lady Arabella’s letter, with manifest
intention of reading it, he did not make any com-
ment. Finally, when Adam folded up the letter
and put it, in its envelope, back in his pocket, as an
intimation that he had now quite finished, the old
diplomatist carefully made a few notes in his
pocket-book. After a careful reconsideration of
these, he spoke :

“ That, my dear Adam, is altogether admirable.
It is a pity that your duty in life does not call for
your writing either political or military despatches
or judicial reports. For in all of these branches
of work you would probably make a name for
yourself. I think I may now take it that we are
both well versed in the actual facts, and that our
further conference had better take the shape of
mutual exchange of ideas. Let us both ask ques-
tions as they may arise ; and I do not doubt
that we shall arrive at some enlightening con-
clusions.’ ’

“ Carried nem. con. Will you kindly begin, sir ?
and then we shall have all in order. I do not
doubt that with your experience you will be able

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An Enemy in the Dark 187

to dissipate some of the fog which envelops certain
of the things which we have to consider.”

“ I hope so, my dear boy. For the beginning,
then, let me say that Lady Arabella’s letter makes
clear some things which she intended — and also
some things which she did not intend. But, before
I begin to comment and draw deductions, let me
ask you a few, a very few questions. I know that
this is not necessary ; but as two men of full age,
talking of matters of a peculiarly intimate kind
and which may bring in considerations of other
persons, it will be as well to have a thorough
understanding, leaving nothing to chance or
accident ! ”

“ Good again, sir ! Please ask away what you
will. I shall keep nothing back.”

“ Right, my boy. That is the spirit in which to
begin a true conference, if it is to have any result.”
The old man pondered a few moments, and
then asked a question which had manifestly been
troubling him all along, and which he had made
up his mind to ask :

“ Adam, are you heart-whole, quite heart-whole,
in the matter of Lady Arabella ? ”

He answered at once, each looking the other
straight in the eyes during question and answer :

“ Lady Arabella, sir, is a very charming woman,
and I have hitherto deemed it a privilege to meet
her — to talk to her — even — since I am in the con-
fessional — to flirt a little with her. But if you

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mean to ask if my affections are in any way engaged,
I can emphatically answer ‘ No ! ’ — as indeed you
will understand when presently I give you the
reason/'

“ Could you — would you mind giving me the
reason now ? It will help us to understand what
is before us in the way of difficulty, and what to
rely on.”

“ Certainly, sir. I can speak at once — should
like to. My reason, on which I can fully depend, is
that I love another woman ! ”

“ That clinches it. May I offer my good wishes,
and, I hope, my congratulations ? ”

“ I am proud of your good wishes, sir, and I
thank you for them. But, it is too soon for con-
gratulations — the lady does not even know my
wishes yet. Indeed, I hardly knew them myself,
as definite, till this moment. Under the circum-
stances, it may be wiser to wait a little.”

“ Quite so. A very wise precaution. There can
never be any harm in such delay. It is not a check,
remember, but only wise forethought. I take it
then, Adam, that at the right time I may be allowed
to know who the lady is ? ”

Adam laughed a low, sweet laugh, such as ripples
from a happy heart.

“ In the matter there need not be an hour’s, a
minute’s delay. I shall be glad to share my little
secret with you, sir. We two are, I take it, tiled.
So that there come no wrong or harm to anyone

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An Enemy in the Dark 189

else in the enlargement of the bounds of our confi-
dence ! ”

“ None. As for me, I promise absolute discre-
tion and, unless with your own consent, silence.”
Both men smiled and bowed.

“ The lady, sir, whom I am so happy as to love
and in whom my dreams of life-long happiness are
centred, is Mimi Watford ! ”

“ Then, my dear Adam, I need not wait to offer
hopes and congratulations. She is indeed a very
charming lady. I do not think I ever saw a girl
who united in such perfection the qualities of
strength of character and sweetness of disposition.
With all my heart, I congratulate you. Then I
may take it that my question as to your heart-
wholeness is answered in the affirmative ? ”

“ Yes ; and now, sir, may I ask in turn why the
question ? ”

“ Certainly ! I asked because it seems to me
that we are coming to a point where such questions
would be painful — impossible, no matter how great
friends we may be.”

Adam smiled.

“ You will now understand why I spoke so
positively. It is not merely that I love Mimi, but
I have reason to look on Lady Arabella as her
enemy ! ”

“ Her enemy ? ”

“ Yes. A rank and unscrupulous enemy who is
bent on her destruction.”

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Sir Nathaniel paused.

“ Adam, this grows worse and worse. I do not
contradict you ; do not doubt. I only want to be '
sure.”

He went on with an infinite sadness in his
tone. “ I wish to God, my dear young friend,
that I could disagree with you. I wish also that
she or you — if not both — could be kept com-
pletely outside this question. But that, I fear,
is impossible. Now for a moment let me hark
back to your story of last night. It is better that
we clear up an important matter right here ; we can
then get on more easily.”

Adam said nothing, but he looked interrogatively.

The other went on : “ It is about Lady Arabella’s
letter in connection with last night. And indeed,
I almost fear to approach it — not on her account, but
on yours and Mimi’s.” Adam, when his friend men-
tioned Mimi so familiarly, felt his heart warm at once
from the chill that accompanied the ominous opening
of his speech. Sir Nathaniel saw the look and smiled.
Then he went over to the door, looked outside it and
returned, locking it carefully behind him.

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CHAPTER ' XXIV

METABOLISM

‘ ‘ Am I looking grave ? ” asked Sir Nathaniel
inconsequently when he re-entered the room.

“ You certainly are, sir.”

“ Yes. I ought to be. I feel as if I had on the
Black Cap ! ” Then he went on more calmly : he
felt that he should remain calm if he could. Calm-
ness was a necessary condition of what he had to say.
“ This is in reality a black-cap affair. We little
thought the day we met, only a few days ago, that
we should be drawn into such a vortex. Already
we are mixed up in robbery, manslaughter, and
probably murder, but, a thousand times worse
than all the crimes in the calendar, in an affair of
gloom and mystery which has no bottom and no
end — with magic and demonology, and even with
forces of the most unnerving kind, which had their
origin in an age when the world was different from
the world which we know. We are going back to
the origin of superstition — to the age when dragons
of the prime tore each other in their slime. I shall
come back to all these things presently. We must
fear nothing — no conclusion, however improbable,

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almost impossible it may be. Life and death is at
the present moment hanging on our judgment.
Life and death not only for ourselves, but f6r
others whom we love. Therefore we must think
accurately, go warily, and act boldly. Remember,
I count on you as I hope you count on me.”

“ I do, with all confidence.”

“ Then,” said Sir Nathaniel, “ let us think justly
and boldly and fear nothing, however terrifying it
may seem. I suppose I am to take as exact in
every detail your account of all the strange things
which happened whilst you were in Diana’s Grove ? ”
“ So far as I know, yes. Of course I may be
mistaken in recollection or appreciation, at the time,
of some detail or another, but I am certain that in
the main what I have said is correct.”

“ Then you will not be offended if I ask you, if
occasion demands it, to reiterate ? ”

“ I am altogether at your service, sir, and proud
to serve.”

“ We have one account of what happened from
an eye-witness whom we do believe and trust — that
is you. We have also another account written by
Lady Arabella under her own hand. These two
accounts do not agree. Therefore we must take it
that one of the two is lying.”

“ Apparently, sir.”

“ And Lady Arabella is the liar ! ”

“ Apparently — as I am not.”

“ We must, therefore, try to find a reason for her

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193

lying. She has nothing to fear from Oolanga, who
is dead. Therefore the only reason which could
actuate her would be to convince someone else that
she was blameless. This ‘ someone ’ could not be
you, for you had the evidence of your own eyes.
There was no one else present ; therefore it must have
been an absent person.”

“ That seems beyond dispute, sir.”

“There is only one other person whose good
opinion she could wish to keep — that person we
know to be Edgar Caswall. He is the only one who
fills the bill.”

The old man smiled and went on :

“Her lies point to other things besides the death
of the African. She evidently wanted it to be
accepted that Oolanga had killed the mongoose,
but that his falling into the well was his own act.
I cannot suppose that she expected to convince
you, the eye-witness ; but if she wished later on to
spread the story, it was at least wise of her to try
to get your acceptance of it.”

“ That is so ! ”

Again Sir Nathaniel smiled. He felt that his
argument was convincing.

“ Then there were other matters of untruth.
That, for instance, of the ermine collar embroidered
with emeralds. If an understandable reason be re-
quired for this, it would be to draw attention away
from the green lights which were seen in the room,
and especially in the well-hole. Any unprejudiced

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person would accept the green lights to be the eyes
of a great snake such as tradition pointed to living
in the well-hole. In fine, therefore, Lady Arabella
wanted the general belief to be that there was no
snake of the kind in Diana’s Grove. Let us con-
sider this. For my own part, I don’t believe in a
partial liar. This art does not deal in veneer ;
a liar is a liar right through. Self-interest may
prompt falsity of the tongue ; but if one prove to be
a liar, nothing that he says can ever be believed.
This leads us to the conclusion that because she
said or inferred that there was no snake, we should
look for one — and expect to find it, too.

“ Now let me here digress. I live, and have for
many years lived, in Derbyshire, a county more
celebrated for its caves than any other county in
England. I have been through them all, and am
familiar with every turn of them ; as also with
other great caves in Kentucky, in France, in Ger-
many, and a host of places — in any of these tre-
mendously deep caves of narrow aperture which are
so valued by intrepid explorers, who descend
narrow gullets of abysmal depth and sometimes
never return. In many of the caverns in the Peak
I am convinced that some of the smaller passages
were used in primeval times as the lairs of some of
the great serpents of legend and tradition. It may
have been that such caverns were formed in the
usual geologic way — bubbles or flaws in the earth’s
crust — which were later used by the monsters of the

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I 9S

period of the young world. It may have been, of
course, that some of them at least were worn origi-
nally by water ; but in time they all found a use when
suitable for living monsters. Such may be — I only
give it as a suggestion for thought.

“ This brings us to another point more difficult to
accept and understand than any other requiring belief
in a base not usually accepted or indeed entered on :
whether such abnormal growths, as must have been
in the case of the earlier inhabitants, could have
ever changed in their nature. Some day the study
of metabolism may progress so far as to enable us
to accept structural changes proceeding from an
intellectual or moral base. If such ever be probable,
we may lean towards a belief that great animal
strength may be a sound base for changes of all
sorts. If this be so, what could be a more fitting
subject than primeval monsters whose strength was
such as to allow a survival of thousands of years ?
Mind, I do not assert, but only suggest it as a subject
for thought. We do not know yet if brain can
increase and develop independently of other parts
of living structure. This again I only suggest as a
subject for thought. My reason for doing so will
be presently touched on.

“ After all, the mediaeval belief in the Philosopher’s
Stone which could transmute metals, has its counter-
part in the accepted theory of metabolism which
changes living tissue. Why, the theory has been
put forward by a great scientist that the existence

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of radium and its products proves the truth of the
theory of transmutation of metal. In an age of
investigation like our own, when we are returning
to science as the base of wonders — almost of
miracles, — we should be slow to refuse to accept facts,
however impossible they may seem to be. We are
apt to be hide-bound as to theory when we begin to
learn. In a more enlightened age, when the base
of knowledge has not only been tested but broadened,
perhaps we shall come to an understanding of that
marvellous definition of 4 faith ’ by St Paul : 4 the
substance of things hoped for ; the evidence of
things unseen.’

44 Now, my dear Adam, pardon these digressions
into matters which are as far from that with which
we are concerned as are the Poles from each other ;
but even these may help us to accept, even if they
cannot help to elucidate. We are in a quagmire,
Day boy, as vast and as deep as that in which the
monsters of the geologic age found shelter and
perhaps advance.

44 Now, I think we have talked enough for the
present of many things hard to understand. It will
be better, perhaps, if we lay them aside for the
present. When you and I resume this chat we shall
be more clear-headed to accept evident deductions,
more resolute and better satisfied to act on them.
Let us say 4 Good-night.’ ”

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CHAPTER XXV

THE DECREE

Wjhen after breakfast the next morning Sir
Nathaniel and Adam met, the elder man, after
inquiring how his companion had slept, and satisfy-
ing him as to his own experiences in the same
matter, said :

“ I think we may take it that we are both calm
of nerve and brain, and that we are fit to resume
so momentous a subject as that deferred. Suppose
we begin by taking a problematical case of fact
based on our conclusions of last night. Let us
suppose a monster of the early days of the world — ■
a dragon of the prime — of vast age running into
thousands of years, to whom had been conveyed
in some way — it matters not — a brain of even the
most rudimentary kind — some commencement,
however small, just sufficient for the beginning of
growth. Suppose the monster to be of incalculable
size and of a strength quite abnormal — a veritable
incarnation of animal strength. Suppose this
animal allowed to remain in one place, thus being
removed from accidents of interrupted development :
might not, would not this creature in process of

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time — ages, if necessary — have that rudimentary
intelligence developed? There is no impossibility
in all this. It is only the natural process of evolu-
tion ; not taken from genii and species, but from
individual instances. Atmosphere, which is the
condition of life — vegetable and animal, — is an im-
mediate product of size. In the beginning, the
instincts of animals are confined to alimentation,
self-protection, and the multiplication of their
species. As time goes on and the needs of life
become more complex, power follows need. Here
let me make another degression. We are prepared
already for abnormal growth — it is the corollary of
normal growth. We have been long accustomed to
consider growth as applied almost exclusively to
size in its various aspects. But Nature, who has no
doctrinaire ideas, may equally apply it to concentra-
tion. A developing thing may expand in any given
way or form. Now, it is a scientific law that
increase implies gain and loss of various kinds ;
what a thing gains in one direction it may lose in
another. In mechanics direction is a condition of
the increase or limitation of speed or force. Why
not apply this more widely ? May it not be that
Mother Nature may deliberately encourage decrease
as well as increase — that it may be an axiom that
what is gained in concentration is lost in size ?
Take, for instance, monsters tradition has accepted
and localised, such as the Worm of Lambton or that
of Spindleston Heugh. If such an one were, by its

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own process of metabolism, to change much of its
bulk for a little intellectual growth, we should at once
arrive at a new class of creature, more dangerous,
perhaps, than the world has ever had any experience
of — a force which can think, which has no soul and
no moral, and therefore no acceptance of responsi-
bility. A worm or snake would be a good illustra-
tion of this, for it is cold-blooded and therefore
removed from the temptations which often weaken
or restrict warm-blooded creatures. If, for instance,
the Worm of Lambton — if such ever existed — were
guided to its own ends by an organised intelligence
capable of expansion, what form of creature could
we imagine which would equal it in potentialities of
evil ? Why, such a being would devastate a whole
country. Now, all these things require much
thought, and we want to apply the knowledge
usefully, and we should therefore be exact. Would
it not be well to have another * easy,’ and resume
the subject later in the day ? ”

“ I quite agree, sir. I am all in a whirl already ;
and I want to attend carefully to what you say ; so
that I may try to digest it.”

Both men seemed fresher and better for the “easy,”
and when they met in the afternoon each of them
had, out of his thought, something to contribute to
the general stock of information. Adam, who was
by nature of a more militant disposition than his
elderly friend, was glad to see that the conference
at once assumed a practical trend. Sir Nathaniel

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recognised this, and, like an old diplomatist, turned
it to present use.

“ Tell me now, Adam, what is the outcome, in
your own mind, of our previous conversations ? ”

He answered at once :

“ That the whole difficulty already assumes
practical shape ; but with added dangers that at
first I did not dream of.”

“ What is the practical shape, and what are the
added dangers ? I am not disputing, but only
trying to clear my own ideas by the consideration
of yours ”

Sir Nathaniel waited, so he went on :

“ Will it bore you, sir, if I put in order of an
argument your own ideas as seen by me ? ”

“ Not at all; I should like it if it will help to clear
my own mind.”

“ Then I will begin with your argument — only in
general, not in detail. And please bear in mind,
sir, that I am trying to state not so much what you
said as to the ideas conveyed to my mind — possibly
erroneously, — but in the honest belief to comprehend
thoroughly.”

“ Go on, my dear boy, do not fear. I shall
understand and, if necessary, make allowance.”

So Adam went on :

“ In the past, in early days of the world, there
were monsters who were so vast that they could
exist thousands of years. Some of them must have
overlapped the Christian era. They may have

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progressed intellectually in process of time. If
they had in any way so progressed, or got even the
most rudimentary form of brain, they would be the
most dangerous things that ever were in the world.
Tradition says that one of these monsters lived in
the Marsh of the East and came up to a cave in
Diana’s Grove which was also called the Lair of the
White Worm. Such creatures may have grown
down (small) as well as up (long). They may have
grown into, or something like, human beings. Lady
Arabella March is of snake nature. She has com-
mitted crimes to our knowledge. She retains some-
thing of the vast strength of her primal being — can
see in the dark — has eyes of a snake. She used the
nigger, and then dragged him through the snake’s
hole down to the swamp ; she is intent on evil, and
hates some we love. Result . . . .”

“ Yes, the result you arrive at ? ”

“ First, Mimi Watford should be taken away at
once — I should suggest West Australia. And

then ”

“ Yes ? ”

“ The monster must be destroyed.”

“ Bravo ! That is a true and fearless conclusion.
At whatever cost, it must be carried out.”

“ At once ? ”

“ Soon, at all events. That creature’s very
existence is a danger. Her presence in this neigh-
bourhood makes the danger immediate.”

As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel’s mouth hardened and

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his eyebrows came down till they met. There was
no doubting his concurrence in the resolution, or his
readiness to help in carrying it out. But he was
an elderly man with much experience and know-
ledge of law and diplomacy. It seemed to him to
be a stern duty to prevent anything irrevocable
taking place till it had been thought out and all was
ready. There were all sorts of legal cruxes to be
thought out, not only regarding the taking of life,
even of a monstrosity in human form, but also of
property. Lady Arabella, be she woman or snake
or devil, owned the ground she moved in, according
to British law, and the law is jealous and swift to
avenge wrongs done within its ken. Within three
hundred years the law has accepted facts and evi-
dence that would not be received in later years by
school children. All such difficulties should be —
must be — avoided for Mr Salton’s sake, for Adam’s
own sake, and, most of all, for Mimi Watford’s sake.
Before he spoke again, Sir Nathaniel had made up
his mind that he must try to postpone decisive
action until the circumstances depended on — which,
after all, were only problematical — should have been
tested satisfactorily, one way or another. When he
did speak, Adam at first thought that his friend
was wavering in his intention, or “ funking ” the
responsibility. He could have no such thought
regarding Adam. That young man’s strong, mobile
face was now as set as flint. His eyes were full of
fire, non-blazing fire, but slumbrous, which is much

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more indicative of danger. His brows were in a
straight line across his face, and his eyes in parallel
course. As to purpose, he was fixed ; the only
questipn with him was — when ! However, his re-
spect for Sir Nathaniel was so great that he would
not act or even come to a conclusion on a vital point
without his sanction.

He came close and almost whispered in his ear :

“ Will you speak with me of this again — say, when
my uncle has gone to bed, and we shall be undis-
turbed ? ”

Sir Nathaniel nodded. They had both deter-
mined to wait.

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CHAPTER XXVI

A LIVING BARBETTE

When Mr Salton had retired for the night, Adam
and Sir Nathaniel with one accord moved to the
study. Things went with great regularity at Lesser
Hill, so they knew that there would be no interrup-
tion to their talk.

When their cigars were lighted, Sir Nathaniel
said :

“ I hope, Adam, that you do not think me either
slack or changeable of purpose. I really am not so,
and I mean to go through this business to the bitter
end — whatever it may be. Be satisfied that my
first care is, and shall be, the protection of Mimi
Watford. To that I am pledged ; my dear boy, we
who are interested are all in some form of the same
danger. That monster out of the pit hates and
means to destroy us all — you and me certainly, and
probably your uncle. We are just on the verge of
stormy times for us all. I wanted especially to talk
with you to-night, for I cannot help thinking that
the time is fast coming — if it has not come already —
when we must take your uncle into confidence.
It was one thing when fancied evils threatened,

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A Living Barbette

but now he as well as the rest of us is marked for
death ; and it is only right that he should know all.”

“ 1 am with you, sir. Things have changed since
we agreed to keep him out of the trouble. Now we
dare not ; consideration for his feelings might cost
him his life. It is a duty we have — and no light or
pleasant one, either. I have not a shadow of doubt
that he will want to be one with us in this. But
remember, we are his guests, in his house ; and his
name, his honour have to be thought of as well as
his safety.”

“ I am still with you — to the death. Only, if
there be any special danger to him, let me bear, or at
any rate share it.”

“ All shall be as you wish, Adam. We need say
no more of that. We are at one. And now as to
practicability. What are we to do ? We cannot
manifestly take and murder Lady Arabella off-hand.
Therefore we shall have to put things in order for
the killing, and in such a way that we may not be
taxed with a base crime. That is why I suggested
waiting till we have some definite and complete
proof.”

Adam stood up, and his voice rang as he said
heartily :

“ You are quite right, sir, as usual. We must be
at least as exact as if we were in a law court. I see
that.”

Sir Nathaniel acquiesced in such a hearty way
as to set his young companion’s mind at rest.

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2o6 The Lair of the White Worm

Adam sat down again and resumed the conversa-
tion, using an even, reflective tone which made the
deliberation altogether useful :

“ It seems to me, sir, that we are in an exceed-
ingly tight place. Our first difficulty is to know
where to begin. Our opponent has pretty well all
the trumps. I never thought this fighting an
antediluvian monster was such a complicated job.
This one is a woman, with all a woman’s wisdom and
wit, combined with the heartlessness of a cocotte
and the want of principle of a suffragette. She
has the reserved strength and impregnability of a
diplodocus. We may be sure that in the fight that
is before us there will be no semblance of fair-play.
Also that our unscrupulous opponent will not betray
herself ! ”

Sir Nathaniel commented on this :

“ That is so. But being of feminine species, she
probably will over-reach herself. That is much
more likely — more in woman’s way. Now, Adam,
it strikes me that, as we have to protect ourselves
and others against feminine nature, our strong game
will be to play our masculine against her feminine.
Men can wait better than women.”

He laughed a mirthless laugh that was all
from the brain and had no heart at all, and
went on :

“ You must remember that this female has had
thousands of years’ experience in waiting. As she
stands, she will beat us at that game.”

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A Living Barbette 207

For answer Adam began preparing his revolver,
which was at half-cock :

“ There is always a quick way of settling differ-
ences of that kind ! ” was all he said ; but Sir
Nathaniel understood and again uttered a warning :

“ How are differences to be settled with a creature
of that kind ? We might as well fight with a bar-
bette ; she is invulnerable so far as physical harm
at our hands is concerned.”

“ Even barbettes get occasionally blown up ! ”
said Adam.

“ Ah ! barbettes aren’t alive all over and, so far
as we know, self -recuperative. No ! we must
think out some plan to have ready if all else should
fail. We had better sleep on it. She is a thing of
the night ; and the night may give us some ideas.”

So they both turned in.

Adam knocked at Sir Nathaniel’s door in the gray
of the morning, and, on being bidden, came into the
room. He had several letters unclosed in his hand.
Sir Nathaniel sat up in bed.

“ Well ! ”

“ I should like to read you a few letters, but, of
course, shall not send them unless you approve.
In fact ” — this with a smile and a blush — “ there are
several things which I want to do ; but I hold my
hand and my tongue till I have your approval.”

“ Go on ! ” said the other kindly. “ Tell me all,
and count at any rate on my sympathy and on my
approval and help if I can see my way.”

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2o8 The Lair of the White Worm

Accordingly Adam proceeded :

“ When I told you the conclusions I had arrived
at, I put in the foreground that Mimi Watford
should for the sake of her own safety be removed —
to West Australia, I suggested, — and that the mon-
ster which had wrought all the harm should be de-
stroyed.”

“ Yes, I remember.”

“ To carry this into practice, sir, one preliminary
is required — unless harm of another kind is to be
faced.”

Sir Nathaniel looked as if he had on his reflecting
cap. Then he proceeded, taking up the other’s
argument :

“ Before she goes to West Australia, or indeed to
anywhere else, Mimi should have some protector
which all the world would recognise. The only
form of this safety recognised by convention is
marriage ! ”

“ Yes, sir. I see you realise ! ”

Sir Nathaniel smiled in a fatherly way.

“ To marry, a husband is required. And that
husband should be you.”

“ Yes, yes.”

“ And that marriage should be immediate and
secret — or, at least, not spoken of outside ourselves.
. . . And now I must ask you a somewhat delicate
question ! Would the young lady be agreeable to
that proceeding ? ”

“ I do not know, sir 1 ”

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A Living Barbette 209

“ You do not know ? Then how are we to
proceed ? ”

“ I suppose we — or one of us — must ask her.
That one must be myself — and I am ready.”

“ Is this a sudden idea, Adam, a sudden resolu-
tion ? ”

“ A sudden resolution, sir, but not a sudden
idea. The resolution is sudden because the need is
sudden and imperative, If I were to speak in
hyperbole, I could say that the idea is as old as Fate,
and that the resolution was waiting before the
beginning of the world I ”

“ I am glad to hear it. I hope it will turn out
that the coming of the White Worm has been a
blessing in disguise. But now, if things have to be
hurried on like this, what is to be the sequence of
events ? ”

“ First, that Mimi should be asked to marry me.
If she agrees, all is well and good. The sequence is
obvious.”

“ And is to be kept a secret amongst ourselves ? ”

Adam answered at once :

“ I want no secret, sir, except for Mimi’s good.
For myself, I should like to go and shout it out on
the house-tops ! But I see that we must be dis-
creet. Untimely knowledge to our enemy might
work incalculable harm.”

“ And how would you suggest, Adam, that we
could combine the momentous question with
secrecy ? ”

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2io The Lair of the White Worm

Here Adam grew red and moved uneasily. Then
with a sudden rush he spoke :

“ Someone must ask her — as soon as possible ! ”
“ And that someone ? ”

“ I have been thinking the matter over, sir, since
we have been here. It requires expedition to
achieve safety, and we shall all have to do as duty
requires.”

“ Certainly. And I trust that none of us shall
shirk such a duty. But this is a concrete thing.
We may consider and propose in the abstract, but
the action is concrete — who, again, is to be the
‘ someone ’ ? Who is to ask her ? ”

“ I thought that you, sir, would be so good ! ”

“ God bless my soul ! This is a new kind of duty
to take on one — at my time of life. Adam, I hope
you know that you can count on me to help in any
way I can ! ”

“ I have counted on you, sir, when I ventured to
make such a suggestion. I can only ask, sir,” he
added, “ that you will be more than ever kind to me
— to us, and look on the painful duty as a voluntary
act of grace prompted by kindness and affection.”
Sir Nathaniel said in a meek but not a doubting
voice :

“ Painful duty ! ”

“ Yes,” said Adam boldly. “ Painful to you,
though to me it would be all joyful.”

“ Yes, I understand ! ” said the other kindly.
Then he went on : “ It is a strange job for an

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A Living Barbette

early morning ! Well, we all live and learn. I sup-
pose the sooner I go the better. Remember, I am in
your hands and shall do just what you wish, and
shall try to do it just as you wish. Now you had
better write a line for me to take with me. For,
you see, this is to be a somewhat unusual transaction,
and it may be embarrassing to the lady, even to
myself. So we ought to have some sort of warrant,
something to show on after-thought, that we have
been all along mindful of her feelings. It will not
do to take acquiescence for granted — although we
act for her good. You had better write the letter
to have ready, and I had better not know what is in
it— except the main purpose of the introducing the
subject. I shall explain fully as we go along any-
thing that she may wish.”

“ Sir Nathaniel, you are a true friend ; and I am
right sure that both Mimi and I shall be grateful to
you for all our lives — however long or however short
they may be ! ”

So the two talked it over and agreed as to points
to be borne in mind by the ambassador. It was
striking six when Sir Nathaniel left the house, Adam
seeing him quietly off.

As the young man followed him with wistful eyes
— almost jealous of the privilege which his kind deed
was about to bring him, he felt that his own heart
was in his friend’s breast.

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CHAPTER XXVH

GREEN LIGHT

The memory of that morning was like a dream to
all those concerned in it. Sir Nathaniel had a con-
fused recollection of detail and sequence, though the
main facts stood out in his memory boldly and
clearly. Adam Salton’s recollection was of an
illimitable time filled with anxiety, hope, and
chagrin, all unified and dominated by a sense of
the slow passage of time and accompanied by vague
nebulous fears. Mimi could not for a long time
think at all or recollect anything, except that Adam
loved her and was saving her from a terrible danger.
In the bitter time itself, whilst she was learning
those truths she found her own heart. When she
had time to think, later on, she wondered how or
when she had any ignorance of the facts that Adam
loved her and that she loved him with all her heart.
Everything, every recollection however small, every
feeling, seemed to fit into those elemental facts as
though they had all been moulded together. The
main and crowning recollection was her saying good-
bye to Sir Nathaniel and entrusting to him loving
messages straight from her heart to Adam Salton,

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Green Light

and of his bearing when with an impulse which she
could not check — and did not want to — she put her
lips to his and kissed him. Later, when she was
alone and had time to think, it was a passing grief
to her that she would have to be silent, for a time,
to Lilia on the happy events of that strange early
morning mission.

She had, of course, agreed to keep all secret until
Adam should give her leave to speak.

The advice and assistance of Sir Nathaniel de
Salis was a great help to Adam Salton in carrying
out his idea of marrying Mimi Watford without
publicity. He went with him to London, and, with
his knowledge and influence, the young man got the
license of the Archbishop of Canterbury for a private
marriage. Sir Nathaniel then took him to live in
his own house till the marriage should have been
solemnised. All this was duly done, and, the for-
malities having been fixed, Adam and Mimi were
married at Doom.

Adam had tried to arrange that he and his wife
should start for Australia at once; but the first ship
to suit them did not start for ten days. So he took
his bride off to the Isle of Man for the interim. He
wished to place a stretch of sea between Mimi and
the White Worm, that being the only way to ensure
protection for his wife. When the day for departure
arrived, they went from Douglas in the King
Orrey to Liverpool. On arrival at the landing-stage,
they drove to Congleton, where Sir Nathaniel met

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214 The Lair of the White Worm

them and drove them at once to Doom, taking care
to avoid any one that he knew on the journey.
They travelled at a great pace and arrived before
dusk at Doom Tower.

Sir Nathaniel had taken care to have the doors
and windows shut and locked — all but the door used
for their entry. The shutters were up and the
blinds down. Moreover, heavy curtains were drawn
across the windows. When Adam commented on
this, Sir Nathaniel said in a whisper :

“ Wait till we are alone, and I shall tell you why
this is done ; in the meantime not a word or a sign.
You will approve when we have had a talk together.”
They said no more on the subject till, when after
dinner, they were ensconced alone in Sir Nathaniel’s
study, which was on the top story of the tower.
Doom Tower was a lofty structure, seated on an
eminence high up in the Peak. The top of the tower
commanded a wide prospect ranging from the hills
above the Ribble to the near side of the Brow, which
marked the northern bound of ancient Mercia. It
was of the early Norman period, less than a century
younger than Castra Regis. The windows of the
study were barred and locked, and heavy dark
curtains closed them in. When this was done
not a gleam of light from the tower was seen from
outside.

When they were alone Sir Nathaniel spoke,
keeping his voice to just above a whisper :

“ It is well to be more than careful. In spite of

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Green Light 215

the fact that your marriage was kept secret, as also
your temporary absence, both are known.”

“ How ? To whom ? ”

“ How, I know not ; but I am beginning to have
an idea. To whom is it the worst ? Where it is most
dangerous.”

“ To her ? ” asked Adam in momentary con-
sternation.

Sir Nathaniel shivered perceptibly as he answered :
“ The White Worm — yes ! ”

Adam noticed that from thence on he never
spoke amongst themselves of Lady Arabella other-
wise, except when he wished to divert the suspicion
of others or cover up his own. Then, having opened
the door, looked outside it and closed it again, he put
his lips to Adam’s ear and whispered even more
softly :

“ Not a word, not a sound to disturb your wife.
Her ignorance may be yet her protection. You
and I know all and shall watch. At all costs, she
must have no suspicion ! ”

Adam hardly dared to breathe. He put his
finger to his lips and at last said under his
breath :

“ I shall do whatever you tell me to, and all the
thanks of my heart are to you ! ”

Sir Nathaniel switched off the electric light, and
when the room was pitch dark he came to Adam,
took him by the hand, and led him to a seat set in
the southern window. Then he softly drew back

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216 The Lair of the White Worm

a piece of the curtain and motioned his companion
to look out.

Adam did so, and immediately shrank back as
though his eyes had opened on pressing danger. His
companion set his mind at rest by saying in a low
voice, not a whisper :

“ It is all right ; you may speak, but speak low.
There is no danger here — at present ! ”

Adam leaned forward, taking care, however, not
to press his face against the glass. What he saw
would not under ordinary circumstances have
caused concern to anybody but to him. With his
knowledge, it was simply appalling — though the
night was now so dark that in reality there was little
to be seen.

On the western side of the tower stood a grove
of old trees of forest dimensions. They were not
grouped closely, but stood a little apart from each
other, producing the effect of a row widely planted.
Over the tops of them was seen a green light,
something like the danger signal at a railway-
crossing. At the height of the tower, the light
was not enough to see anything even close to it.
It seemed at first quite still ; but presently, when
Adam’s eye became accustomed to it, he could see
that it moved a little as if trembling. This at once
recalled to Adam’s mind all that had been. He
seemed to see again the same duplicate light
quivering above the well-hole in the darkness of
that inner room at Diana’s Grove — to hear again

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Green Light

Oolanga’s prolonged shriek, and to see the hideous
black face, now grown gray with terror, disappear
into the impenetrable gloom of the mysterious
orifice. Instinctively he laid his hand on his
revolver, and stood up ready to protect his wife.
Then, seeing that nothing happened, and that the
light ‘and all outside the tower remained the same,
he softly pulled the curtain over the window, and,
rising up, came and sat down beside Sir Nathaniel,
who looked up for a moment with a sharp glance,
and said in an even voice :

“ I see you understand. I need say nothing.”

“ I understand ! ” he replied in the same quiet
tone.

Sir Nathaniel switched on the light again, and
in its comforting glow they began to talk freely.

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CHAPTER XXVIII

AT CLOSE QUARTERS

“ She has diabolical cunning,” said Sir Nathaniel.
“ Ever since you left, she has ranged along the
Brow and wherever you were accustomed to
frequent. I have not heard whence the knowledge
of your movements came to her, nor have I been
able to learn any data whereon have I been able to
found an opinion. She seems to have heard both
of your marriage and your absence ; but I gather,
by inference, that she does not know where you and
your wife are, or of your return. So soon as the
dusk falls, she goes out on her rounds, and before
dawn covers the whole ground round the Brow,
and away up into the heart of the Peak. I
presume she doesn’t condescend to rest or to eat.
This is not to be wondered at in a lady who has
been in the habit of sleeping for a thousand years
at a time, and of consuming an amount of food at
a sitting which would make a moderate-sized
elephant kick the beam. However, be all that as
it may, her ladyship is now nightly on the prowl,
and in her own proper shape that she used before
the time of the Romans. It certainly has great

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219

At Close Quarters

facilities for the business on which she is now
engaged. She can look into windows of any
ordinary kind. Happily, this house is beyond her
reach, especially if she wishes — as she manifestly
does — to remain unrecognised. But, even at this
height, it is wise to show no lights, lest she might
learn something of even our presence or absence.”

Here Adam stood up again and spoke out.

“ Would it not be well, sir, if some one of us
should see this monster in her real shape at close
quarters ? I am willing to run the risk — for I take
it there would be no slight risk in the doing. I
don’t suppose anyone of our time has seen her close
and lived to tell the tale.”

Sir Nathaniel rose and held up an expostulatory
hand as he said :

“ Good God, lad ! what are you suggesting ?
Think of your wife and all that is at stake.”

Adam interrupted :

“ It is of my wife that I think, for her sake that
I am willing to risk whatever is to be risked. But
be assured I shall not drag her into it — or even tell
her anything to frighten her. When I go out she
shall not know of it.”

“ But if you mention the matter at all she will
suspect.”

“ The fact of the snake being on the look-out must
be told to her to warn her, but I will do it in such
a way as not to create any undue suspicion regarding
herself. Indeed, I had made up my mind as to

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220 The Lair of the White Worm

what to say some time ago, when it was borne
in on me to warn her about keeping the place
dark. With your permission, I shall go now and
tell her of that, and then when I return here
you might lend me a key so that I can let my-
self in.”

“ But do you mean to go alone ? ”

“ Certainly. It is surely enough for one person
to run the risk.”

“ That may be, Adam, but there will be
two.”

“ How so ! You surely don’t mean that Mimi
should come with me ? ”

“ Lord, no ! But if she knew you were going she
would be sure to want to go too ; so be careful not
to give her a hint.”

“ Be sure I shall not. Then who is to be the
other ? ”

“ Myself ! You do not know the ground ; and so
would be sure to get into trouble. Now, I know
every inch of it, and can guide you how to go safely
to any place you want. Adam, this is an excep-
tional thing — yielding to no law of action that any
of us ever heard of. As to danger ! what of that
to you and me when your wife’s safety is concerned !
I tell you, no forlorn hope that either of us ever
heard of has a hundredth part of the danger we are
running into. Yet I do it with all my heart — even
as you do.”

Adam made a low bow as to one worthy of all

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At Close Quarters

honour, but he said no word more on the subject.
After he had switched off the light he then peeped
out again through the window and saw where the
green light still hung tremblingly above the trees.
Before the curtain was drawn and the lights put up
again, Sir Nathaniel said :

“ So long as her ladyship does not know where-
about we are, we shall have as much safety as remains
to us ; so, then, bear in mind that we cannot be too
careful.”

When the two men slipped out by the back door
of the house, they walked cautiously along the
avenue which trended towards the west. Every-
thing was pitch dark — so dark that at times they
had to feel their way by the borders and palings and
tree-trunks. They could still see, seemingly far in
front of them and high up, the baleful dual light
which at the height and distance seemed like a faint
line. As they were now on the level of the ground,
the light seemed infinitely higher than it had looked
from the top of the tower ; it actually seemed now,
when it trembled, to move amongst the stars. At
the sight Adam’s heart fell ; the whole danger of
the desperate enterprise which he had undertaken
burst upon him. But shortly this feeling was
followed by another which restored him to him-
self — a fierce hate and loathing, and a desire to
kill, such as he had never experienced or even
dreamt of.

They went on for some distance on a level road

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222 The Lair of the White Worm

fairly wide, from which the green light was still
visible. Here Sir Nathaniel spoke softly again,
placing his lips to Adam’s ear for safety :

“ We must be very silent. We know nothing
whatever of this creature’s power of either hearing
or smelling, though we presume that both are
of no great strength. As to seeing, we may pre-
sume the opposite, but in any case we must
try to keep in the shade or hidden behind the
tree-trunks. The slightest error would be fatal
to us.”

Adam made no answer. He only nodded, in case
there should be any chance of the monster seeing the
movement.

After a time, that seemed interminable, they
emerged from the circling wood. It was like
coming out into sunlight by comparison with the
misty blackness which had been around them.
There was actually some light — enough to see by,
though not sufficient to distinguish things at a
distance or minutely. Naturally Adam’s eyes
sought the green light in the sky. It was still in
about the same place, but its surroundings were more
visible. It now was at the summit of what seemed
to be a long white pole, near the top of which were
two pendant white masses like rudimentary arms.
The green light, strangely enough, did not seem
lessened by the surrounding starlight, but had a
clearer effect and a deeper green. Whilst they were
carefully regarding this — Adam with the aid of a

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223

At Close Quarters

folding opera-glass — their nostrils were assailed by a
horrid stench — something like that which rose from
the well-hole in Diana’s Grove. This put them in
mind of the White Worm, and they tried to examine
its position as seen against the sky in the faint star-
light. By degrees, as their eyes got and held the right
focus, they saw an immense towering mass that
seemed snowy white. It was tall and wonderfully
thin. The lower part was hidden by the trees which
lay between, but they could follow the tall white shaft
and the duplicate green lights which topped it. As
they looked there was a movement : the shaft seemed
to bend and the line of green light descended amongst
the trees. They could see the green light twinkle as
it passed through the obstructing branches. Seeing
where the head of the monster was, the two men
ventured a little further forward, and, a propi-
tious ray of moonlight helping, saw that the hidden
mass at the base of the shaft was composed of vast
coils of the great serpent s body, forming a sub-
stratum or base from which the upright mass rose.
As still they looked, this lower mass moved, the
glistening folds catching the moonlight, and they
could see the monster’s progress was along the
ground. It was coming towards them at a swift
pace, so instinctively they both turned and ran,
taking care as they went to make as little noise as
possible, either by their footfalls or by disturbing
the undergrowth close to them. They never
stopped or paused till they saw before them the

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224 The Lair of the White Worm

high dark tower of Doom. Quickly they entered,
looking the door behind them. They did not need
to talk, with such a horrid memory behind them and
still accompanying them. So in the dark they
found their separate rooms and went to bed.

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CHAPTER XXIX

IN THE ENEMY’S HOUSE

Sir Nathaniel was in the library next morning after
breakfast when Adam came to him carrying a letter.
As he entered the room he said :

“ Her ladyship doesn’t lose any time. She has
begun work already I ”

Sir Nathaniel, who was writing at a table near the
window, looked up.

“ What is it ? ” said he.

Adam held him the letter he was carrying. It was
in a blazoned envelope.

“ Ha ! ” said Sir Nathaniel, “ from Lady Arabella !
I expected something of the kind.”

“ But, sir,” said Adam, “ how could she have
known we were here ? She didn’t know last night.”
“ I don’t think we need trouble about that, Adam.
There is much we do not and cannot understand.
This is only another mystery. Suffice it that she
does not know. It is all the better and safer for us.”
“ Better and safer 1 ” replied Adam, amazed.

“ Certainly. It is better to know the danger
before us ; and this is a warning, though it was not
intended so. Let me see it. Addressed to Mr

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226 The Lair of the White Worm

Adam Salton 1 Then she knows everything. All
the better.”

“ How,” said Adam with a puzzled look. “ How
is it all the better ? ”

“ General process of reasoning, my boy ; and the
experience of some years in the diplomatic world.
Just that we are all the safer with a creature that
follows its own instincts. This creature is a mon-
ster without heart or consideration for anything or
anyone. She is not nearly so dangerous in the open
as when she has the dark to protect her. Besides,
we know, by our own experience of her movements,
that for some reason she shuns publicity. Perhaps
it is that she knows it won’t interfere in her designs
on Caswall— or rather, on Caswall’s estate. In
spite of her vast bulk and abnormal strength, she is
afraid to attack openly. After all, vast as she is, she
is only a snake and with a snake’s nature, which is
to keep low and squirm and proceed by stealth and
cunning. She will never attack when she can run
away, although she knows well that running away
would probably be fatal to her. What is the letter
about ? ”

Sir Nathaniel’s voice was calm and self-possessed.
When he was engaged in any struggle of wits he was
all diplomatist.

“ It is asking Mimi and me to tea this afternoon
at Diana’s Grove, and hoping that you also will
favour her.”

Sir Nathaniel smiled as he answered directly :

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In the Enemy’s House 227

“ Please ask Mrs Salton to accept for us all.”

“ Accept ? To go there ? She means some
deadly mischief. Surely — surely it would be wiser
not.”

“ It is an old trick that we learn early in diplo-
macy, Adam : to fight on ground of your own choice.
It is true that she initiated the place on this occasion ;
but by accepting it we make it ours. Moreover,
she will not be able to understand our reason or any
reason for our doing so, and her own bad conscience
— if she has any bad or good — and her own fears and
doubts will play our game for us. No, my dear boy,
let us accept, by all means.”

“ Must we accept for you too, sir ? I am loth that
you should run such a risk. Surely you are better
out of it.”

“ No ! It is better that I should be with you. In
the first place, it will be less suspicious — you know
you are my guests, and it will be better to preserve
convention than to break it. In the next place, and
the main reason for my going, there will be two of us
to protect your wife in case of necessity. As to
fear for me, do not count that. In any case, I am
not a timorous man. And in this case I should
accept all the danger that could be heaped on me.”

Adam said nothing, but he silently held out his
hand, which the other shook : no words were
necessary.

When it was getting near tea-time, Mimi asked
Sir Nathaniel :

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228 The Lair of the White Worm

44 Shall we walk over ? It is only a step.”

“ No, my dear,” he answered. 44 We must make
a point of going in state. We want all publicity.”
She looked at him inquiringly. 44 Certainly, my
dear. In the present circumstances publicity is a
part of safety. Do not be surprised if, whilst we are
at Diana’s Grove, occasional messages come for you
— for all or any of us.”

44 I see ! ” said Mrs Salton. “ You are taking no
chances.”

44 None, my dear. All I have learned at foreign
courts and amongst civilised and uncivilised people
is going to be utilised within the next couple of
hours.”

44 I shall gladly learn,” she said : “ it may help me
on other occasions.”

44 I hope to God it will not ! ”

Sir Nathaniel’s voice was full of seriousness,
which made the look grave also. Somehow it
brought to her in a convincing way the awful
gravity of the occasion. Before they came to the
gate, Sir Nathaniel said to her :

4 4 1 have arranged with Adam certain signals
which may be necessary if certain eventualities
occur. These need be nothing to do with you
directly. Only bear in mind that if I ask you or
Adam to do anything, please do not lose a second
in the doing of it. We shall all try to pass off such
moments with an appearance of unconcern. In all
probability nothing requiring such care shall occur.

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In the Enemy’s House 229

She will not try force though she has so much of it
to spare. Whatever she may attempt to-day of
harm to any of us will be in the way of secret plot.
Some other time she may try force, but — if I am
able to prognosticate such a thing — not to-day.
The messengers who may ask for you or any of us
shall not be witnesses only : they may help to
stave off danger.” Seeing query in her face he went
on. “ Of what kind the danger may be I know not,
and cannot guess. It will doubtless be some
ordinary circumstance of triviality; but none the
less dangerous on that account. Here we are at the
gate. Now, be self-possessed and careful in all
matters, however small. To keep your head is half
the battle.”

There were quite a lot of servant men in livery in
the hall. The doors of the green drawing-room
were thrown open, and Lady Arabella came forth
and offered them cordial welcome. This having
been got over, Lady Arabella went into the other
room, where a servant was holding a salver on
which was laid a large letter sealed. The instant
her back was turned, Sir Nathaniel whispered to
Adam :

“ Careful ! I remember just such a cloud 6f
servants at the Summer Palace in the Kremlin the
day the Grand Duke Alexipof was assassinated at
the reception given to the Khan of Bokhara.”

With a slight motion of his left hand, he put the
matter aside, enjoining silence. At that moment a

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230 The Lair of the White Worm

servant in plain clothes came and bowed to Lady
Arabella, saying :

“ Tea is served, your ladyship, in the atrium.”

The doors of a suite of rooms were thrown
partially open, the farthest of them showing the
lines and colours of a Roman villa. Adam, who
was acutely watchful and was suspicious of every-
thing, saw on the far side of this newly disclosed
room a panelled iron door of the same colour and
configuration as the outer door of the inner room
where was the well-hole wherein Oolanga had dis-
appeared. Something in the sight alarmed him,
and he quietly went forward and stood near the
door. He made no movement even of his eyes, but
he could see that Sir Nathaniel was watching him
intently and, he fancied, with approval.

They all sat near the table spread for tea, Adam
still keeping near the door. Lady Arabella had
taken Mimi with her, the two men following, and
sat facing the iron door. She fanned herself, im-
pressively complaining of heat, and told one of the
footmen to throw all the outer doors open. Tea
was in progress when Mimi suddenly started up with
a look of fright on her face ; at the same moment,
the men became cognisant of a thick smoke which
began to spread through the room — a smoke which
made those who experienced it gasp and choke.
The men — even the footmen — began to edge uneasily
towards the inner door. Lady Arabella alone was
unmoved. She sat still in her seat at the table, with

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In the Enemy’s House 231

a look of unconcern on her face which disturbed all
present, except Sir Nathaniel — and later, Adam, so
soon as he caught Sir Nathaniel’s eye. Denser and
denser grew the smoke, and more acrid its smell.
Presently, Mimi, towards whom the draught from
the open door wafted the smoke, rose up choking, and
ran to the door, which she threw open to its fullest
extent, disclosing on the outside of it a curtain of
thin silk fixed not to the door but the doorposts.
As the door opened more freely the draught from
the open door swayed the thin silk towards her,
enveloping her in a sort of cloud. In her fright, she
tore down the curtain, which enveloped her from
head to foot. Then she ran towards the open outer
door, unconscious or heedless of the fact that she
could not see where she was going. At this moment,
Adam, followed by Sir Nathaniel, rushed forward
arid joined her — Adam catching her by the upper
arm and holding her tight. It was well that he did
so, for just before her lay the black orifice of the well-
hole, which, of course, she could not see with the silk
curtain round her head. The floor was extremely
slippery ; something like thick oil had been spilled
where she had to pass ; and close to the edge of the
hole her feet shot from under her, and she stumbled
forward towards the well-hole.

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CHAPTER XXX

A RACE FOR LIFE

When Adam saw Mimi slip, he sprang forward, still
holding her arm, so, as they both moved forward at
equal rate of speed, there was no unnecessary shock.
Instinctively he flung himself backward, still holding
her. His weight here told, and, as his grip held her
fast ; he dragged her up from the hole and they fell
together on the floor outside the zone of slipperiness.
In a moment he had sprung to his feet and raised
her up, so that together they rushed out through
the open door into the sunlight, Sir Nathaniel
coming close behind them. They were all pale
except the old diplomatist, who looked both calm
and cool. It sustained and cheered both Adam and
his wife to see him thus master of himself. Both
Mr and Mrs Salton managed to follow his example,
to the wonderment of the footmen, who saw the
three who had just escaped a terrible danger walking
together gaily, as under the guiding pressure of Sir
Nathaniel’s hand they turned to re-enter the house.
When they were out of earshot of the servants, Sir
Nathaniel whispered softly :

“ Hush — not a sound. Do not appear to notice
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A Race for Life

233

that anything has happened. We are not safe yet —
not out of this ordeal.”

And so chatting and laughing they re-entered the
atrium where Lady Arabella still sat in her place
as motionless as a statue of marble. In fact, all
those in the room remained so still as to give the
newcomers the impression that they were looking
at an instantaneous photograph. In a few seconds,
however, normal sound and movement were re-
newed. Lady Arabella, whose face had blanched
to a deadly white, now appeared to be in great
spirits, and resumed her ministrations at the tea-
board as though nothing unusual had happened.
The slop-basin was full of half-burned brown paper
over which tea had been poured.

Sir Nathaniel, who had been narrowly observing
his hostess, took the first opportunity afforded
him of whispering to Adam :

“ More than ever, be careful. The real attack is
to come yet. She is too quiet for reality. When I
give my hand to your wife to lead her out — by what-
ever door, — I don’t know which yet, — come with us —
quick, and caution her to hurry. Don’t lose a
second, even if you have to make a scene. Hs-s-s-h ! ’ ’
Then they resumed their places close to the table,
and the servants, in obedience to Lady Arabella’s
order, brought in fresh tea.

Thence on, that tea-party seemed to Adam, whose
faculties were at their utmost intensity, like a
terrible dream. As for poor Mimi, she was so over-

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234 The Lair of the White Worm

wrought both with present and future fear, and
with horror at the danger she had escaped, that her
faculties were numb. However, she was braced up
for a trial, and she felt assured that whatever might
come she would be able to go through with it. Sir
Nathaniel seemed just as usual — suave, dignified,
and thoughtful — perfect master of himself and his
intentions. To her husband it was evident that
Mimi was ill at ease. The mere way she kept
constantly turning her head to look around her, the
quiok coming and going of the oolour of her face,
her hurried breathing, alternating with periods of
suspicious calm, were to those who had power to
discern subtle evidences of mental perturbation.
To her, the attitude of Lady Arabella seemed com-
pounded of social sweetness and personal considera-
tion. It would be hard to imagine any more
thoughtful and tender kindness towards an honoured
guest. Even Adam seemed touched with it, though
he never relaxed his vigilance or took his eyes off
the lady’s movements. When tea was over and the
servants had come to clear away the cups, Lady
Arabella, putting her arms round Mimi’s waist,
strolled with her into the adjoining room, where she
collected a number of photographs which were
scattered about, and, sitting down beside her guest,
began to show them to her. While she was doing
this, the servants closed all the doors of the suite
of rooms and that which opened from the room out-
side, — that of the well-hole into the avenue.

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A Race for Life 235

Presently she came back to the room where
Adam and Sir Nathaniel were, and sat on a sofa
on which Mimi had already taken her seat.
Suddenly, without any seeming cause, the light
in the room began to grow dim. The light
outside seemed to become similarly affected,
even the glass of the window becoming obscure.
Sir Nathaniel, who was sitting close to Mimi,
rose to his feet, and, crying, “Quick! ” caught
hold of her right hand and began to drag her from
the room. Adam caught her other hand, and
between them they drew her through the outer
door which the servants were beginning to close.
It was difficult at first to find the way, the dark-
ness was so great ; but to their relief a multitude
of the cowled birds rushed through the open door,
and then, falling back, formed a lane-way through
the air which there was no mistaking. In seem-
ingly frantic haste they rushed through the avenue
towards the gate, Adam whistling shrilly. Mr
Salton’s double carriage with the four horses and
two postillions, which had been waiting quite still
in the angle of the avenue, dashed up. Her husband
and Sir Nathaniel lifted — almost threw — Mimi into
the carriage. The postillions plied whip and spur,
and the vehicle, rocking with its speed, swept
through the gate and tore up the road. Behind
them was a hubbub — servants rushing about, orders
being called out, doors shutting, and somewhere,
seemingly far back in the house, a strange noise

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236 The Lair of the White Worm

like a lumbering cart moving on thin ice. There
was no slackening of pace. Every nerve of the men,
and even of the horses, was strained as they dashed
recklessly along the road. The two men held Mimi
between them, the arms of both of them round her
as though protectingly. As they went, there was a
sudden rise in the ground ; but the horses, breathing
heavily as if mad, dashed up it at racing speed, not
even slackening their pace when the hill fell away
again leaving them to hurry along the downgrade.
At the utmost speed of which the horses were
capable, they made for Macclesfield. Thence on to
Congleton. Having passed the latter place, as they
looked back they saw a great shapeless mass behind
them, its white showing through the creeping dusk,
all form lost in its swift passage. From Congleton
they headed for Runcorn, where there were clusters
of lights at the bridge and a stream of single lights, or
small groups of lights, alone by the ship canal. The
horses tore madly on, seemingly in the extremity of
terror, and followed in their course by a sickening
smell such as had arisen through the well-hole. At
Runcorn they headed for Liverpool, joyous, even in
the midst of their terror, when they saw the blaze
of lights at the landing-stage and extending down
the river till they disappeared in the line of the
piers and floating buoys. As they drew near they
heard with glad ears the hooting of a great steamer,
ablaze with many lights from stem to stem.

“ We are in time ! ” said Adam, but made no

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A Race for Life 237

other remark. At Runcorn they saw a white mass
slip down the slope from the roadway to the Mersey,
and heard the wash of a great body that slid into
the tide-way. The postillions, with their goal in
sight, redoubled their exertions, and they tore along
the streets at reckless pace, careless of the shouted
warnings and threats of the police and the many
drivers of various vehicles. They tore down the
steep movable way to the landing-stage — just in
time to see the great vessel move into the river,
and to hear the throb of the engines.

The hearts of Adam and his wife grew cold, for
their last chance seemed gone. But at the foot of
the movable bridge stood Davenport, watch in hand.
The moment the carriage drove up he raised his
hand in signal to the captain of a great Isle of Man
steamer, who was evidently looking out for him.
When he saw the hand raised, he worked the engine
telegraph, and the great paddle-wheels began to
revolve. The Manx Maid was the fastest boat
sailing from Liverpool ; and from the instant the
flanges to her paddles struck the water, she began
to overhaul the Australian boat. They had not
got far down the river when she overtook the latter
and ranged alongside without slackening speed.
Affairs had already been arranged between the two
boats with a time to be reckoned by seconds. Adam
and his wife, Sir Nathaniel, and Davenport were
transferred to the ocean steamship whilst going at
as full speed as was allowable at this point of the

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238 The Lair of the White Worm

river, and the latter swept on her way. Davenport
went down to his cabin with Adam, telling him
on the way what arrangements had been made and
how he had received the message from Diana’s
Grove ; and that the voyagers would be able to get
off at Queenstown as they might desire.

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CHAPTER XXXI

BACK TO DOOM

There seemed to be a great and unusual excitement
on the river and along both banks as the Manx Maid
swept on her way. From the tops of the lighthouses
and the pleasure towers ; from the yards of every
big ship going out or coming in, spy-glasses were
projected and binoculars in use ; there was rushing
to and fro on all the docks, and many shots were
heard. Sir Nathaniel went about the deck trying
to find the cause ; at last a quarter-master told him
that, so far as they could make out from semaphore
signals, a great whale had come down the river and
was heading out to sea. It had been first noticed
at Runcorn, he said, going downstream ; but where
it had come from no one knew, for it had been un-
noticed before that time. For Sir Nathaniel and
his friends this was quite sufficient. The danger
was not over yet. Adam went straight to the
captain and made a request that the search-light
with which the ship was equipped should be kept
on the alleged whale day and night, as long as it
might be within sight. This was attended to at
once, and so long as there was anything to be seen

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240 The Lair of the White Worm

there were constant reports. Adam and his friends
had many opportunities of seeing the monster, and
more than once recognised the contours of its head
and the green flash of its eyes. Just before mid-
night the report came that the whale had been seen
to turn, and was now heading towards the Mersey.
Then all was darkness, and reports ceased. The
pursuit had been given over.

Adam and Mimi and Sir Nathaniel slept sound
that night.

Refreshed with sleep, which had for many nights
been a stranger to them all, the party rose with
renewed courage and the brave intentions which
come with it.

When Queenstown was in sight, Adam, leaving
his wife in their cabin, took Sir Nathaniel to the
saloon, then empty, and astonished him by telling
him that he was going off when the ship stopped,
and was returning to the Brow at once.

“ But what about your wife ? ” the latter asked.
“ Does she go on alone ? ”

“ No, sir ; she comes back with me,” was the
startling reply.

Sir Nathaniel walked back and forwards several
times before he spoke :

“ I presume, my dear boy, that you have thought
well over what you are about to do, and weighed up
the possible consequences. I am not given to inter-
fere with my neighbour’s affairs, and such a thing
as this is a man’s own responsibility to be decided

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Back to Doom

241

entirely by himself. Of course when he has a wife
her wishes are paramount. What does she say ? ”
“ We are quite agreed, Sir Nathaniel. We both
see it as a duty which we owe to other people to be
on the spot and do what we can.”

“ But,” expostulated Sir Nathaniel, “ with the
terrible experiences you have had — the recollection
of the terrible dangers which you have escaped — is
it wise to place such an awful burden as a possible
repetition, or even extension of these things, on
the shoulders of a young girl just entering — and
happily entering — life ? Forgive my interference.
I shall not press my views unduly on either of you ;
but to bring the view before your notice is also a
duty, a very sacred duty which I must not forgo.”

“ I know that, sir, and with all our heart Mimi
and I thank you for your kindness. But it is just
because of that experience which is already had, and
perhaps paid for, that our power to help others has
grown — and our responsibility in equal proportion.”
Sir Nathaniel said solemnly :

“ God forbid that I should come between any man
—or woman — and a duty. Remember that I am
with you, heart and soul. I shared the trouble and
the risk with you at the beginning, and, please God,
I shall do so to the end — whatever that may be ! ”
Sir Nathaniel said no more, but he was helpful in
all ways, loyally accepting the wishes of his friends
and supporting them. Mimi thanked him in the
warmth of her handclasp, for his sharing the risk ,

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2\2 The Lair of the White Worm

and for his devoted friendship. Then they three
settled all matters so far as they could foresee.

When the ship arrived in the roads at Queenstown
they debarked in the tender and set out in the first
train towards Liverpool. There, in obedience to in-
structions telegraphed to him by Davenport, they
were met with the carriage with four horses and the
postillions just as when they had left Diana’s Grove.
The postillions, who were well-plucked men, had
volunteered to come though they knew the terrible
risk they ran. But the horses had been changed —
wisely — for they could not easily get over the fright
in the prolonged race against the monster.

Mr Salton had been advised that they were not
returning to Lesser Hill, so did not expect to see
them. All was prepared at Doom with locks and
bolts and curtains as when they left.

It would be foolish to say that neither Adam nor
Mimi had no fears in returning. On the contrary,
the road from Liverpool and Congleton was a
via dolorosa. Of course Mimi felt it more keenly
than her husband, whose nerves were harder, and
who was more inured to danger. Still she bore up
bravely, and as usual the effort was helpful to her.
When once she was in the study in the top of the
turret, she almost forgot the terrors which lay out*
side in the dark. She did not attempt even a peep
out of the window ; but Adam did — and saw nothing.
The full moonlight showed all the surrounding
country, but nowhere was to be observed that

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Back to Doom

243

tremulous line of green light or the thin white tower
rising up beyond the woods.

The peaceful night had good effect on them all ;
danger, being unseen, seemed afar off. At times it
was hard to realise that it had ever been. With
courage quite restored, Adam rose early and walked
all along the Brow, seeing no change in the signs of
life in Castra Regis. What he did see, to his wonder
and concern, on his returning homeward, was Lady
Arabella in her tight-fitting white dress and ermine
collar, but without her emeralds, emerging from
the gate of Diana’s Grove and walking towards the
Castle. Pondering on this and trying to find some
meaning in it, occupied his thoughts till he joined
Mimi and Sir Nathaniel at breakfast. They were
all silent during the meal, simply because none of
them had anything to say. What had been had
been, and was known to them all. Moreover, it
was not a pleasant topic. One experience they had
— at least Adam and Mimi had, for Sir Nathaniel
had long ago learned all that it could teach — that is,
that memory of even the most stirring or exciting
or mournful time, soon passes ; the humdrum of life
is beyond all episodes, and swamps them. A fillip
was given to the conversation when Adam told of
his seeing Lady Arabella, and her being on her way
to Castra Regis. They each had something to say
of her, and of what her wishes or intentions were
towards Edgar Caswall. Mimi spoke bitterly of
her in every aspect. She had not forgotten — and

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244 The Lair of the White Worm

never would — never could — the occasion when to
Lilia’s harm she consorted even with the nigger.
As a social matter, she was disgusted with her over
following up of the rich landowner — “ throwing
herself at his head so shamelessly,” was how she
expressed it. She was interested to know that the
great kite still flew from Caswall’s tower. But
beyond such matters she did not try to go. Indeed,
for such she had no data. She was really surprised
— in a quiet way — to hear how fully the old order
of things had been already restored. The only
comments she made in this connection were of
strongly expressed surprise at her ladyship’s
“ cheek ” in ignoring her own criminal acts, and her
impudence in taking it for granted that others had
overlooked them also. Adam had tried unsuccess*
fully to find any report of the alleged whale in the
Mersey, so he remained silent on that subject.
Perhaps he had a vague hope that the monster had
been unable to sustain her maritime adventures,
and had perished. He was well content that this
should be so, though he had already made up his
mind that he would spare neither time nor effort,
or indeed life itself, to root out Diana’s Grove and
all it contained. He had already expressed his
intention to Sir Nathaniel and to Mimi. The
former thoroughly approved his intention and
pledged himself to support him in his efforts. Mimi
agreed with him, but woman-like advised caution.

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CHAPTER XXXII

A STARTLING PROPOSITION

Thb more Mimi thought over the late events, the
more puzzled she was. Adam had actually seen
Lady Arabella coming from her own house on the
Brow, yet he — and she too — had last seen the
monster in the guise in which she had occasionally
appeared wallowing in the Irish Sea. What did
it all mean — what could it mean ? except that
there was an error of fact somewhere. Could it be
possible that some of them — all of them had been
mistaken ? That there had been no White Worm
at all ? That the eyes of Adam and Sir Nathaniel
had deceived them ? She was all at sea ! On
either side of her was a belief impossible of recep-
tion. Not to believe in what seemed apparent
was to destroy the very foundations of belief. . . .
And yet . . . and yet in old days there had been
monsters on the earth, and certainly some people
had believed in just suoh mysterious changes of
identity. ... It was all very strange. Perhaps,
indeed, it was that she herself was mad. Yes, that
must be it ! Something had upset her brain. She
was dreaming untruths based on reality. Just

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246 The Lair of the White Worm

fancy how any stranger — say a doctor — would
regard her if she were to calmly tell him that she
had been to a tea-party with an antediluvian
monster, and that they had been waited on by
up-to-date men-servants. From this she went
into all sorts of wild fancies. What sort of tea
did dragons prefer ? what was it that essentially
tickled their palates ? Who did the washing for
dragons’ servants ? Did they use starch ? If,
in the privacy of their houses — homes — lairs, dragons
were accustomed to use knives and forks and
teaspoons 1 Yes, that at any rate was true ; she
had seen them used herself. Here she got into
such a state of intellectual confusion that even the
upside-down reasoning of the border-land between
waking and sleeping would not account for it. She
set herself to thinking deeply. Here she was in her
own bed in the house of Sir Nathaniel de Salis,
Doom Tower — that at any rate was a fact ; and to
that she would hold on. She would keep quiet
and think of nothing — certainly not of any of
these strange things — till Adam was with her.
He would tell her the truth. She could believe
all that he would say. Therefore, till he
came she would remain quiet and try not to
think at all. This was a wise and dutiful
resolution ; and it had its reward. Gradually
thoughts, true or false, oeased to trouble her.
The warmth and peace of her body began to
have effect ; and after she had left a message

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A Startling Proposition 247

for Adam to come up to her when he returned, she
sank into a deep sleep.

Adam returned, exhilarated by his walk, and more
settled in his mind than he had been for some time.
He, too, had been feeling the reaction from the
high pressure which he had been experiencing ever
since the intentions of Lady Arabella had been
manifested. like Mimi, he had gone through the
phase of doubt and inability to believe in the
reality of things, though it had not affected him to
the same extent. The idea, however, that his wife
was suffering ill-effects from her terrible ordeal,
braced him up, and when he came into her room and
waked her, he was at his intellectual and nervous
best. He remained with her till she had quite
recovered her nerve, and in this condition had gone
again into a peaceful sleep. Then he sought Sir
Nathaniel in order to talk over the matter with him.
He knew that the calm commonsense and self-
reliance of the old man, as well as his experience,
would he helpful to them all. Sir Nathaniel had
by now come to the conclusion that for some reason
which he did not understand, or indeed try to, Lady
Arabella had entirely changed her plans, and, for the
present at all events, was entirely pacific. Later
on, when the ideas of the morning were in farther
perspective, he was inclined to attribute her changed
demeanour to the fact that her influence over
Edgar Caswall was so far increased as to justify a
more fixed belief in his submission to her charms.

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24-8 The Lair of the White Worm

She had seen him that morning when she visited
Castra Regis, and they had had a long talk together,
during which the possibility of their union had been
discussed. Caswall, without being enthusiastic on
the subject, had been courteous and attentive ; as
she had walked back to Diana’s Grove she almost
congratulated herself on her new settlement in life.
That the idea was becoming fixed in her mind, and
was even beginning to materialise, was shown by a
letter which she wrote later in the day to Adam
Salton and had sent to him by hand. It ran as
follows :

“ Dear Mr Salton, — I wonder if you would
kindly advise and, if possible, help me in a matter of
business. I have no aptitude or experience in such
matters, and am inclined to lean on a friend.
Briefly, it is this. I have been for some time trying
to make up my mind to sell this place (Diana’s
Grove), but so many difficulties have been suggested
about so doing, that I have put off and put off the
doing of it till now. The place is entirely my own
property, and no one has to be consulted with regard
to what I may wish to do about it. It was bought
by my late husband, Captain Adolphus Ranger
March, who then had a residence, The Crest, Appleby.
He acquired all rights of all kinds, including mining
and sporting. When he died he left his whole
property to me. Now my father wants me to live
with him, and I feel it a call of duty to do so. I am
his only child, and he is beginning to be an old, a

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A Startling Proposition 249

very old man. Moreover, he has certain official
duties to perform and dignities to support. He is,
as perhaps you know, Lord Lieutenant of the
County, and he feels the want of a female relative
to take the head of the table. I am, he says, the
only one for the post. He is too old to marry again,
and, besides help in the duties named, he wants the
comfort of a companion. I shall feel the leaving
this place, which has become endeared to me by
many sacred memories and affections — the recollec-
tion of many happy days of my young married life
and the more than happy memories of the man I
loved and who loved me so much. I should be glad
to sell the place for any kind of fair price — so long,
of course, as the purchaser was one I liked and of
whom I approved. May I say that you yourself
would be the ideal person. But I dare not hope for
so much. It strikes me, however, that among your
Australian friends may be someone who wishes to
make a settlement in the Old Country, and would,
in such case, care to fix the spot in one of the most
historic regions in England, full of romance and
legend, and with a never-ending vista of historical
interest — an estate which, though small, is in perfect
condition and with illimitable possibilities of de-
velopment, and many doubtful — or unsettled —
rights which have existed before the time of the
Romans or even Celts, who were the original pos-
sessors. In addition, the house is one of the oldest
in England, and kept up to the dernier cri for the

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250 The Lair of the White Worm

last two thousand years. Of all this, immediate
possession is to be had. My lawyers can provide
you, or whoever you may suggest, with all business
and historical details. A word from you of accept-
ance or refusal is all that is necessary, and we can
leave details to be thrashed out by our agents.
Forgive me, won’t you, for troubling you in the
matter, and believe me, yours very sincerely,

“ Arab ella March.”

Adam read this over several times, and then, his
mind being made up — though not with inflexible
finality, — he went to Mimi and asked if she had any
objection. She answered — though after a shudder
— that she was in this, as in all things, willing to do
whatever he might wish. She added as he was
leaving the room :

“ Dear, I am willing you should judge what is
best for us both. Be quite free to act as you see
your duty, and as your inclination calls. We are
in the hands of God, and He has hitherto guided
us, and will to His own end.”

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CHAPTER XXXIH

WAR k L’OUTRANCE

From his wife’s room Adam Salton went straight to
the study in the tower, where he knew Sir Nathaniel
would be at that hour. The old man was alone,
so, when he had entered in obedience to the “ Come
in,” which answered his query, he closed, the door
and came and sat down beside him. He began at
once :

“ Do you think, sir, it would be well for me to buy
Diana’s Grove ? ”

“ God bless my soul ! ” said the old man, startled,
“ what on earth would you want to do that for

“ Well, sir, I have vowed to destroy that White
Worm, and my being able to do whatever I may
choose with the Lair would facilitate matters and
avoid complications.”

Sir Nathaniel hesitated longer than usual before
speaking. He was thinking deeply.

“ Thank you, Adam, for telling me — though,
indeed, I had almost taken so much for granted.
But it is well to have accurate knowledge if one
is going to advise. I think that, for all reasons, you
would do well to buy the property and to have the

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252 The Lair of the White Worm

conveyance settled at once. If you should want
more money than is immediately convenient, let me
know, so that I may be your banker.”

“ Thank you, sir, most heartily ; but, indeed, I
have more money at immediate call than I can want.
I am glad you approve.”

“ More than approve. You are doing a wise
thing in a financial way. The property is historic,
and as time goes on it will increase in value. More-
over, I may tell you something which indeed is only
a surmise, but whioh, if I am right, will add great
value to the place.”

Adam listened. He went on :

“ Has it ever struck you why the old name, ‘ The
Lair of the White Worm,’ was given ? Imagine the
word * white ’ in italics. We know now that there
was a snake which in early days was called a worm ;
but why white ? ”

“ I really don’t know, sir ; I never thought of it.
I simply took it for granted.”

“ So did I at first — long ago. But later I puzzled
my brain for a reason.”

“ And what was the reason, sir ? ”

“ Simply and solely because the snake or worm
teas white.”

“ How was that ? There must have been a
reason. Tradition did not give it a colour without
some reason.”

“ Evidently what people saw was white. I
puzzled over it till I saw some light on the subject.”

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War a l’outrance

253

“ Won’t you let me follow your reasoning, sir ? ”

“ Certainly. We are in the county of Stafford,
where the great industry of china-burning was
originated and grew. Stafford owes much of its
wealth to the large deposits of the rare china clay
found in it from time to time. These deposits
became in time pretty well exhausted; but for
centuries Stafford adventurers looked for the special
clay as Ohio and Pennsylvania farmers and ex-
plorers looked for oil. Anyone owning real estate
on which clay can be discovered strikes a sort of
gold mine.”

“ Yes, and then ? ” The young man looked

puzzled.

The old man continued :

“ The original ‘ Worm ’ so-called, from which the
name of the place came, had to find a direct way down
to the marshes and the mud-holes. Now, the clay
is easily penetrable, and the original hole probably
pierced the bed of china clay. When once the way
was made it became a sort of highway for the Worm.
But as much movement was necessary to ascend
such a great and steep height, some of the clay got
attached to his rough skin by attrition. The down-
way must have been easy work, and there was little
attrition ; but the ascent was different, and when
the monster came to view in the upper world, he
was fresh from contact with the white clay. Hence
the name, which has no cryptic significance but only
fact. Now, if that surmise be true — and I do not

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254 The Lair of the White Worm

see why it is not — there must be a deposit of valuable
clay of immense depth. And there is no reason
why it is not of equally large superficies.”

Adam’s comment pleased the old gentleman.

“ I have it in my bones, sir, that you have struck
—or rather reasoned out — a great truth,” Sir
Nathaniel went on cheerfully. “ When the world
of commerce and manufacture wakes up to the value
of your find, it will be as well that your title to
ownership has been perfectly secured. If anyone
ever deserved such a gain, it is you.”

With his friend’s aid, Adam secured the property
without loss of time. Then he went to see his uncle,
and told him about it. Mr Salton was delighted to
find his young relative already constructively the
owner of so fine an estate — and one which gave him
an important status in the county.

The next morning, when Adam went in to his host
in the smoking-room, the latter asked him how he
purposed to proceed with regard to keeping his vow.

“ It is a difficult matter which you have under-
taken. To destroy such a monster is something
like one of the labours of Hercules, in that not only
its size and weight and power of using them in
little-known ways are against you, but the occult
side is alone an unsurpassable difficulty. The
Worm is already master of all the elements except
fire. And I do not see how fire can be used for the
attack. It has only to sink into the earth in its
charted way, and you could not overtake it if you

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War a l’outrance

255

had the resources of the biggest coal-mine in
existence. But I daresay you have mapped out
some plan in your mind, ,, he added courteously.

“I have, sir. But, of course, it is purely theo-
retical and may not stand the test of practice.”

“ May I know the idea you formed ? ”

“ Well, sir, this was my argument : This old

lady is fairly experienced. I suppose, by the way,
that there is no offence in calling her an old lady,
considering that she has been disporting herself
in her own way for some thousands of years.
So there is no use in trying means that were
familiar to her at the time of the Flood. I have
been turning my brain inside out and upside
down to hit on a new scheme. We hear in Ecclesi-
astes that there is nothing new under the sun, and
as she antedated that work, I daresay she is up to
everything which has been popularly known ever
since. So at last I decided to try a new adaptation
of an old scheme. It is about a century old. But
what is a century to her ? At the time of the
Chartist trouble an idea spread amongst financial
circles that an attack was going to be made on the
Bank of England. Accordingly, the directors of
that institution consulted many persons who were
supposed to know what steps should be taken, and
it was finally decided that the best protection
against fire — which is what was feared — was not
water but sand. To carry the scheme into practice
great store of fine sea-sand — the kind that blows

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256 The Lair of the White Worm

about and is used to fill hour-glasses — was provided
throughout the building, especially at the points
liable to attack, from which it could be brought
into use.

“ I propose to follow the example. I shall
provide at Diana’s Grove, as soon as it comes into
my possession, an enormous amount of such sand,
and shall take an early occasion of pouring it into
the well-hole, which it will in time choke. Thus
Lady Arabella, in her guise of the White Worm,
will find herself cut off from her refuge. The hole
is a narrow one, and is some hundreds of feet
deep. The weight of the sand this can contain
would not in itself be sufficient to obstruct ; but
the friction of such a body working up against it
would be tremendous.”

“ One moment. What use, then, would the sand
there be for destruction 1 ”

“ None, directly ; but it would hold the struggling
body in place till the rest of the scheme came into
practice.”

“ And what is the rest ? ”

“ As the sand is being poured into the well-hole
at intervals, large quantities of dynamite can also
be thrown in ! ”

“ Good. But how would the dynamite explode —
for, of course, that is what you intend. Would not
some sort of wire or fuse be required for each parcel
of dynamite ? ”

Adam smiled.

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War a l’outrance

257

“ Not in these days, sir. That was proved in the
second and greater explosion at Hell Gate in New
York. Before the explosion a hundred thousand
pounds of dynamite in sealed canisters was placed
about the miles of workings. At the last a charge
of gunpowder was fired — a ton or so. And the
concussion exploded all the dynamite. It was
most successful. Those who were non-experts in
high explosives expected that every pane of glass
in New York would be shattered. But, in reality,
the explosive did no harm outside the area intended,
although sixteen acres of rock had been mined and
only the supporting walls and pillars had been left
intact. The whole of the rocks which made the
whirlpool in East River were simply shattered into
the size of matches.”

Sir Nathaniel nodded approval.

“ That seems a good plan — a very excellent one.
But if it has to tear down so many feet of precipice
it may wreck the whole neighbourhood.”

“ And free it for ever from a monster,” added
Adam, as he left the room to find his wife.

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CHAPTER XXXIV

APPREHENSION

Lady Arabella had instructed her solicitors to
hurry on with the conveyance of Diana’s Grove, so
no time was lost in letting Adam Salton have formal
possession of the estate. After his interview with
Sir Nathaniel, he had taken steps to begin putting
his plan into action. In order to accumulate the
necessary amount of fine sea-sand, he had ordered
the steward to prepare for an elaborate system of
top-dressing all the grounds. A great heap of the
chosen sand, which Mr Salton’s carts had brought
from bays on the Welsh coast, began to grow at the
back of the Grove. No one seemed to suspect that
it was there for any purpose other than what had
been given out. Lady Arabella, who alone could
have guessed, was now so absorbed in her matri-
monial pursuit of Edgar Caswall, that she had
neither time nor inclination for thought extraneous
to this. Adam, as a member of the Australian
Committee for Defence and a crack gunner in the
West Australian Volunteer Artillery, had, of course,
plenty of opportunities for purchasing and storing
war material; so he put up a rough corrugated-iron

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Apprehension 259

shed behind the Grove, in which he had stored his
explosives and also a couple of field pieces which
he thought it well to have near him in case of
emergency. Even the White Worm would have
to yield to the explosive shells which they could
carry. All being ready for his great attempt
whenever the time should come, he was now content
to wait, and, in order to pass the time, was content
to interest himself in other things — even in CaswalTs
great kite, which still flew from the high tower of
Gastra Regis. Strange to say, he took a real
interest, beyond the advantage to his own schemes,
in Caswall’s childish play with the runners. It
may, of course, have been that in such puerile
matters, which in reality did not matter how they
eventuated, he found a solace, or at any rate a
relief, from things which were naturally more trying.
At any rate, however intended, the effect was there,
and the time passed without any harm being done
by its passage. The mount of fine sand grew to
proportions so vast as to puzzle the bailiffs and
farmers round the Brow. The hour of the intended
cataclysm was approaching apace. Adam wished
— but in vain — for an opportunity, which would
appear to be natural, of visiting Caswall in the
turret of Castra Regis. At last he got up early one
morning, and when he saw Lady Arabella moving
towards the Castle, took his courage a deux mains
and asked to be allowed to accompany her. She
was glad, for her own purposes, to comply with his

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260 The Lair of the White Worm

wishes. So together they entered, unobserved at
that early hour, and found their way to the turret-
room. Caswall was much surprised to see Adam
come to his house in such a way, but lent himself
to the task of seeming to be pleased. He played
the host so well as to deceive even Adam. They
all went out on the turret roof, where he explained
to his guests the mechanism for raising and lowering
the kite, taking also the opportunity of testing the
movements of the multitudes of birds, how they
answered almost instantaneously to the lowering or
raising of the kite. After a little while, Adam’s
stock of knowledge of this was so increased that
he was glad that he had ventured on the visit.

As Lady Arabella walked home with Adam from
Castra Regis, she asked him if she might make a
request. Permission having been accorded, she
explained that before she finally left Diana’s Grove,
where she had lived so long, she had a desire to
know the depth of the well-hole. Adam was really
happy to meet her wishes, not from any sentiment,
but because he wished to give some valid and
ostensible reason for examining the passage of the
Worm, which would obviate any suspicion resulting
from his being on the premises. This exactly
suited him, and he made full use of his opportuni-
ties. He brought from London a Kelvin sounding
apparatus with an adequate length of piano-wire
for testing any depth, however great. The wire
passed over the easily-running wheel, and when this

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Apprehension 261

was once fixed over the hole, he was satisfied to
wait till the most advantageous time to make his
final experiment. He was absolutely satisfied with
the way things were going. It seemed to him
almost an impossibility that there should be any
hitch or disturbance in his carefully arranged plans.
It often amazed Adam to see how thoroughly Lady
Arabella seemed to enjoy the sounding of the well-
hole, despite the sickening stench exhaled by the
fissure. Sometimes he would have to go out into
the outer air to get free from it for a little while.
It really was not merely an evil smell ; it rather
seemed to partake of some of the qualities of some
noxious chemical waste. But she seemed never to
tire in the work, but went on as though unconscious
that any disagreeable at all existed. Adam tried
to find relief by interesting her in the experiments
with the kite. The top of the Castle, at any rate,
was free from the foul breath of the pit, and whilst
he was engaged there he did not feel as if his actual
life was being imperilled by the noxious smell.
One thing he longed for, a little artillery practice,
though indeed there was a solace to him in the
thought that he was the crack shot in the West
Australian Artillery.

In the meantime, affairs had been going quietly
at Mercy Farm. Lilia, of course, felt lonely at the
absence of her cousin, but the even tenor of life
went on for her as for others. After the first shock

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262 The Lair of the White Worm

of parting was over, things went back to their
accustomed routine. In one respect, however, there
was a marked difference. So long as home con-
ditions had remained unchanged, Lilia was content
to put ambition far from her and to settle down to
the life which had been hers as long as she could
remember. But Mimi’s marriage set her thinking ;
naturally, she came to the conclusion that she too
might have a mate. There was not for her much
choice — there was little movement in the matri-
monial direction at the farmhouse. But there was
a counter-balancing advantage that one man had
already shown his preference for her in an un-
mistakable way. True, she did not approve of the
personality of Edgar Caswall, and his struggle with
Mimi had frightened her ; but he was unmistakably
an excellent parti, much better than she could ever
have any right to expect. This weighs much with
a woman, and more particularly one of her class.
So, on the whole, she was content to let things take
their course, and to abide by the issue. As time
had gone on, she had reason to secretly believe that
things did not point to happiness. But here again
was a state of things purely feminine, which was
easily got over. The happiness which is, so to
speak, “ in the bush,” is at best vague, and the
opposite is more vague still. It is hard for a
young person, specially of the female sex, to believe
that things may not turn out eventually as well as
they had originally promised. She could not shut

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her eyes to certain disturbing facts, amongst which
were the existence of Lady Arabella and her growing
intimacy with Edgar Caswall; his own cold and
haughty nature, so little in accord with the love
which is the foundation of a young maid’s dreams
of happiness ; and, finally, that the companion of her
youth — her life — would, by her marriage to Adam,
be taken away to the other side of the earth,
where she was to make her home. How things
would of necessity alter if she were to marry her-
self, she was afraid to think. All told, the prospect
was not happy for her, and she had a secret longing
that something might occur to upset the order of
things as at present arranged. She had a feeling
that she would be happy to accept whatever might
happen in consequence of the change. She had
also a sort of foreknowledge that the time was
coming with startling rapidity when Mr Caswall
would come to pay another visit at the farm — a
thing which she was quite unable to contemplate
with any unmixed pleasure, more especially as
Mimi would not be with her to help her in bearing
the trial. She dreaded lest there should be another
struggle of wills in which she would have to be the
shuttlecock. The result of her pondering over the
subject was that she saw the beginning of the end
of her happy life, and felt as if she was looking into
a cold fog in which everything was concealed from
her. And so she was filled with many unrelieved
apprehensions.

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CHAPTER XXXY

THE LAST BATTLE

When Lilia Watford got Edgar Caswall’s note
asking if he might come to tea on the following
afternoon, her heart sank within her. If it was only
for her father’s sake, she must not refuse him or show
any disinclination which he might construe into in-
civility. She missed Mimi more than she could say
or even dared to think. Hitherto, she had always
looked to her for sympathy, for understanding,
for loyal support. Now she and all these things,
and a thousand others — gentle, assuring, supporting
— were gone. And instead there was a horrible
aching void. In matters of affection for both sexes,
and overcoming timorousness for woman, want
ceases to be a negative and becomes positive. For
the whole afternoon and evening, and for the follow-
ing forenoon, poor Lilia’s loneliness grew to be 'a
positive agony. For the first time she began to
realise the sense of her loss as though all the previous
suffering had been merely a preparation. Every-
thing she looked at, everything she remembered or
thought of, became laden with poignant memory.
Then on the top of all was a new sense of dread.

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The reaction from the sense of security, which had
surrounded her all her life, to a never-quieted appre-
hension was at times almost more than she could
bear. It so filled her with fear that she had a
haunting feeling that she would as soon die as live.
However, whatever might be her own feelings, duty
had to be done. And as she had been brought up
to consider duty as first, she braced herself to go
through, to the very best of her ability, what was
before her. Still, the severe and prolonged struggle
for self-control told upon her. She looked as she
felt, ill and weak. She was really in a nerveless and
prostrate condition, with black circles round her
eyes, pale even to her lips, and with an instinctive
trembling, which she was quite unable to repress.
It was for her a sad mischance that Mimi was away,
for her love would have seen through all obscuring
causes, and have brought to light the girl’s unhappy
condition of health. Lilia was utterly unable to do
anything to escape from the ordeal before her ; but
her cousin, with the experience of her former
struggles with Mr Caswall and of the condition in
which these left her, would have taken steps —
even peremptory ones, if necessary — to prevent a
repetition.

Edgar arrived punctually to the time appointed
by herself. When Lilia, through the great window,
saw him approaching the house, her condition of
nervous upset was pitiable. She braced herself up,
however, and managed to meet and go on with the

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266 The Lair of the White Worm

interview in its preliminary stages without any
perceptible change in her normal appearance and
bearing. It had been to her an added terror that
the black shadow of Oolanga, whom she dreaded,
should follow hard on his master. A load was
lifted from her mind when he did not make his usual
stealthy approach. She had also feared, though in
lesser degree, lest Lady Arabella should be present
to make trouble for her as before. The absence of
her, too, made at least the beginning of the inter-
view less intolerable. With a woman’s natural
forethought in a difficult position, she had provided
the furnishing of the tea-table as a subtle indication
of the social difference between her and her guest.
She had chosen the implements of service, as well as
all the provender set forth, of the humblest kind.
Instead of arranging the silver teapot and china
cups, she had set out an earthen teapot such as was
in common use in the farm kitchen. The same idea
was carried out in the cups and saucers of thick
homely delft, and in the cream- jug of similar kind.
The bread was of simple whole-meal, home-baked.
The butter was of course good, since she had made it
herself and the preserves and honey came from her
own garden. Her face beamed with satisfaction
when the guest eyed the appointments with a
supercilious glance. It was all a shock to the poor
girl herself, who enjoyed offering to a guest the little
hospitalities possible to her ; but that had to be
sacrificed with other pleasures. Caswall’s face was

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more set and iron-clad than ever — his piercing eyes
seemed from the very beginning to look her through
and through. Her heart quailed when she thought
of what would follow — of what would be the end,
when this was only the beginning. As some pro-
tection, though it could be only of a sentimental
kind, she brought from her own room the photo-
graphs of Mimi, of her grandfather, and of Adam
Salton, whom by now she had grown to look on with
reliance, as a brother whom she could trust. She
kept the pictures near her heart, to which her hand
naturally strayed when her feelings of constraint,
distrust, or fear became so poignant as to interfere
with the calm which she felt was necessary to help
her through her ordeal. At first Edgar Caswall
was courteous and polite, even thoughtful; but
after a little while, when he found her resistance to
his domination grow, he abandoned all forms of
self-control and appeared in the same dominance
as he had previously shown. She was prepared,
however, for this, both by her former experience
and the natural fighting instinct within her. By
this means, as the minutes went on, both developed
the power and preserved the equality in which they
had begun.

Without warning or any cogent cause, the psychic
battle between the two individualities began afresh.
This time both the positive and negative causes were
all in the favour of the man. The woman was alone
and in bad spirits, unsupported ; and nothing at all

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268 The Lair of the White Worm

was in her favour except the memory of the two vic-
torious contests ; whereas the man, though unaided,
as before, by either Lady Arabella or Oolanga, was
in full strength, well rested, and in flourishing
circumstances. It was not, therefore, to be won-
dered at that his native dominance of character
had full opportunity of asserting itself. He began
his preliminary stare with a conscious sense
of power, and, as it appeared to have immediate
effect on the girl, he felt an ever-growing con-
viction of ultimate victory. After a little Lilia’s
resolution began to flag. She felt that the con-
test was unequal — that she was unable to put
forth her best efforts. As she was an unselfish,
unegotistical person, she could not fight so well in
her own battle as in that of someone whom she
loved and to whom she was devoted. Edgar saw
the relaxing of the muscles of face and brow, and
the almost collapse of the heavy eyelids which
seemed tumbling downward in sleep. She made
gallant efforts to brace her dwindling powers, but
for a time unsuccessfully. At length there came
an interruption, which seemed like a powerful
stimulant. Through the wide window she saw
Lady Arabella enter the plain gateway of the farm
and advance towards the hall door. She was clad
as usual in tight-fitting white, which accentuated
her thin, sinuous figure. The sight did for Lilia
what no voluntary effort could. Her eyes flashed,
and in an instant she felt as though a new

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life had suddenly developed within her. Lady
Arabella’s entry, in her usual unconcerned, haughty,
supercilious way, heightened the effect, so that
when the two stood close to each other battle was
joined. Mr Caswall, too, took new courage from
her coming, and all his masterfulness and power
came back to him. His looks, intensified, had more
obvious effect than had been noticeable that day.
Lilia seemed at last overcome by his dominance.
Her face became red and pale — violently red and
ghastly pale by rapid turns. Her strength seemed
gone. Her knees collapsed, and she was actually
sinking on the floor, when to her surprise and joy
Mimi came into the room, running hurriedly and
breathing heavily. Lilia rushed to her, and the two
clasped hands. With that, a new sense of power,
greater than Lilia had ever seen in her, seemed to
quicken her cousin. Her further hand swept the
air in front of Edgar Caswall, seeming to drive him
backward more and more by each movement, till at
last he seemed to be actually hurled through the
door which Mimi’s entrance had left open, and
fell on his back at full length on the gravel path
without. Then came the final and complete col-
lapse of Lilia, who, without a sound, sank down
pale as death on the floor.

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CHAPTER XXXVI

FACE TO FACE

Mimi was greatly distressed when she saw her
cousin lying prone. She had a few times in her life
seen Lilia on the verge of fainting, but never sense-
less ; and now she was frightened. She threw herself
on her knees beside Lilia, and tried, by rubbing her
hands and such measures commonly known, to
restore her. But all her efforts were unavailing.
Lilia still lay white and senseless. In fact, each
moment she looked worse; her breast, that had
been heaving with the stress, became still, and
the pallor of her face grew like marble. At these
succeeding changes Mimi’s fright grew, till it alto-
gether mastered her. She succeeded in controlling
herself only to the extent that she did not scream.
Lady Arabella followed Caswall, when he had recov-
ered sufficiently to get up and walk — though
stumblingly — in the direction of Castra Regis. When
Mimi was quite alone with Lilia and the need for
effort had ceased, she felt weak and trembled. In
her own mind, she attributed it to a sudden change
in the weather. It was momentarily becoming
apparent that a storm was coming on. The sky

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271

was covered with flying clouds. The silence was so
marked as to become a positive quality. There
was in the air that creaking sound that shows that
electricity is gathering. For a little while she
noticed that though the great kite still flew from
the turret, the birds were beginning to gather as
they had done when the kite had fallen. But now
they began to disappear in some mysterious way :
first singly, and then in increasing numbers till the
whole world without seemed a widespread desola-
tion. Something struck her when she had become
cognizant of this, and with wild affright in her face
she again stooped over Lilia.

And then came a wild cry of despair. She
raised Lilia’s white face and laid it on her warm
young breast, but all in vain. The cold of the
white face thrilled through her, and she utterly
collapsed when it was borne in on her that Lilia
had passed away.

The dusk gradually deepened and the shades of
evening closed in, but she did not seem to notice
or to care. She sat still on the floor with her arms
round the body of the girl whom she loved. Darker
and blacker grew the sky as the coming storm and
the closing night joined forces. Still she sat on —
alone — tearless — unable to think. Slowly the even-
ing merged in night. Mimi did not know how long
she sat there. Though it seemed to her that ages
had passed, it could not have been more than a few
minutes. She suddenly came to herself, and was sur-

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272 The Lair of the White Worm

prised to find herself in almost absolute darkness.
For a while she lay quiet, thinking of the immediate
past. Lilia’s hand was still in hers, and to her sur-
prise it was still warm. Somehow this helped her
consciousness, and without any special act of will she
stood up. She lit a lamp and looked at her cousin.
There was no doubt that Lilia was dead ; but the
death must have been recent. Though her face
was of set white, the flesh was still soft to the touch.
When the lamplight fell on her eyes, they seemed to
look at her with intent — with meaning. She put
out the light and sat still in the darkness, feeling as
though she were seeing with Lilia’s eyes. The
blackness which surrounded her allowed of no dis-
turbing influence on her own consciousness : the
gloom of the sky, of which there was an occasional
glimpse as some flying cloud seemed to carry light
with it, was in a way tuned to her own gloomy
thoughts. For her all was dark, both within and
without. Her hope seemed as dead as her cousin’s
body. And over and behind all was a sense of
unutterable loneliness and sorrow. She felt that
nothing in the world could ever come right again.
In this state of dark isolation a new resolution came
to her, and grew and grew until it became a fixed
definite purpose. She would face Caswall and call
him to account for his murder of Lilia — that was
what she called it to herself. She would also take
steps — she knew not what or how — to avenge the
part taken by Lady Arabella. In this frame of

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mind she lit all the lamps in the room, got water
and linen from her room, and set about the decent
ordering of Lilia’s body. This took some time ; but
when it was finished, she put on her hat and cloak,
put out the light, and, locking the door behind her,
set out quietly and at even pace for Castra Regis.
As she drew near the Castle, she saw no lights except
those in and around the tower room. The lights
showed her that Mr Caswall was there, and so she
entered by the hall door, which as usual was open,
and felt her way in the darkness up the staircase to
the lobby of the room. The door was ajar, and the
light from within showed brilliantly through the
opening. She saw Edgar Caswall walking restlessly
to and fro in the room with his hands clasped behind
his back. She opened the door without knocking,
and walked right into the room. As she entered,
he ceased walking, and stared at her in surprise.
She made no remark, no comment, but continued
the fixed look which he had seen on her entrance.

For a time silence reigned, and the two stood
looking fixedly at each other. Caswall was the
first to speak.

“ I had the pleasure of seeing your cousin, Miss
Watford, to-day.”

“ Yes,” she answered, her head up, looking him
straight between the eyes, which made even him
flinch. “ It was an ill day for her that you did see
her.”

“ Why so ? ” he asked in a weak way.

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274 The Lair of the White Worm

" Because it cost her her life. She is dead ! ”

“ Dead ! Good God ! When did she die ?
What of ? ”

“ She died this evening just after you left her.”

“ Are you sure ? ”

“ Yes — and so are you — or you ought to be.
You killed her ! ”

“ I killed her ! Be careful what you say ! Why
do you say such a thing ? ”

“ Because, as God sees us, it is true ; and you
know it. You came to Mercy Farm on purpose to
kill her — if you could. And the accomplice of your
guilt, Lady Arabella March, came for the same
purpose.”

“ Be careful, woman,” he said hotly. “ Do not
use such names in that way, or you shall suffer
for it.”

“ I am suffering for it — have suffered for it — shall
suffer for it. Not for speaking the truth as I have
done, but because you two with devilish malignity
did my darling to death. It is you and your
accomplice who have to dread punishment, not I.”

“ Take care ! ” he said again.

“ Oh, I am not afraid of you or your accomplice,”
she answered spiritedly. “ I am content to stand
by every word I have said, every act I have done.
Moreover, I believe in God’s justice. I fear not
the grinding of His mills. If needed, I shall set the
wheels in motion myself. But you don’t care even
for God, or believe in Him. Your god is your great

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kite, which cows the birds of a whole district. But
be sure that His hand, when it rises, always falls at
the appointed time. His voice speaks in thunder,
and not only for the rich who scorn their poorer
neighbours. The voices that call on Him come from
the furrow and the workshop, from grinding toil and
unrelieved stress and strain. Those voices He
always hears, however frail and feeble they may be.
His thunder is their echo, His lightning the menace
that is borne. Be careful ! I say even as you have
spoken. It may be that your name is being called
even at this very moment at the Great Assize.
Repent while there is still time. Happy you if you
may be allowed to enter those mighty halls in the
company of the pure-souled angel whose voice has
only to whisper one word of justice and you thence-
forth disappear for ever into everlasting torment.”

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CHAPTER XXXYII

ERITIS SICUT DEUS

Fob the last two days most of those concerned had
been especially busy. Adam, leaving his wife free
to follow her own desires with regard to Lilia and
her grandfather, had busied himself with filling the
well-hole with the fine sand prepared for the purpose,
taking care to have lowered at stated intervals
quantities of the store of dynamite so as to be ready
for the final explosion. He had under his immediate
supervision a corps of workmen, and was assisted
in their superintendency by Sir Nathaniel, who had
come over for the purpose and was staying at
Lesser Hill. Mr Salton, too, showed much interest
in the job, and was eternally coming in and out,
nothing escaping his observation. Lady Arabella
was staying at her father’s place in the Peak. Her
visit to Mercy Farm was unknown to any one but
herself and Mimi, and she had kept her own counsel
with regard to its unhappy conclusion. She had,
in fact, been at some pains to keep the knowledge
from Edgar. The Kelvin sounding apparatus was
in good working order, and it seemed to be a per-
petual pleasure to her, despite the horrible effluvium,

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277

to measure again and again the depth of the well-
hole. This appeared to have some strange fasci-
nation for her which no one employed in the work
shared. When any of the workmen made com-
plaint of the stench to which they were subjected,
she did not hesitate to tell them roundly that she
believed it was a “ try on ” on their part to get an
immoderate quantity of strong drink. Naturally,
Adam did not hear of Lilia’s death. There was no
one to tell him except Mimi, who did not wish to
give him pain, and who, in addition, was so
thoroughly occupied with many affairs, some of
which we are aware of, that she lacked the op-
portunity of broaching the matter — even to her
husband.

When Mimi returned to Sir Nathaniel’s after her
interview with Edgar Caswall, she felt the new
freedom as to her movements. Since her marriage
to Adam and their coming to stay at Doom Tower,
she had been always fettered by fear of the horrible
monster at Diana’s Grove. But now she dreaded
it no longer. She had accepted the fact of its
assuming at will the form of Lady Arabella and
vice versa , and had been perhaps equally afraid
whichever form it took. But now she did not
concern herself about one or the other. True, she
wanted to meet Lady Arabella, but this was for
militant purposes. She had still to tax and upbraid
her for her part in the unhappiness which had been
wrought on Lilia and for her share in her death.

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278 The Lair of the White Worm

As for the monster, it had been last seen in the
channel, forging a way out to sea, and, so far as she
knew or cared, had not been seen since and might
never be seen again. Now she could once more
wander at will along the breezy heights of the
Brow or under the spreading oaks of Diana’s Grove
unfearful of the hateful presence of either the Lady
or her alter ego, the Worm. She dared not compare
what the friace had been to her before the hateful
revelation, but she could — and she thanked God
for that — enjoy the beauties as they were, what
they had been, and might be again were they once
free. When she left Castra Regis after her inter-
view with Edgar Caswall, she walked home to
Doom, making a long detour along the top of the
Brow. She wanted time to get calm and be once
more master of herself before she should meet her
husband. Her nerves were in a raw condition, and
she felt more even than at first the shock of her
cousin’s death, which still completely overwhelmed
her. The walk did her good. In the many
changes of scene and the bracing exercise, she felt
her nervous strength as well as her spirits restored.
She was almost her old self again when she had
entered the gates of Doom and saw the lights of
her own room shining out into the gloom.

When she entered her own room, her first act
was to rim to the window and throw an eager look
round the whole circle of sight. This was instruc-
tive — an unconscious effort to clear her mind of any

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apprehension that the Worm was still at hand
rearing its vast height above the trees. A single
glance satisfied her that at any rate the Worm in
proprid persond was not visible. So she sat down
for a little in the window-seat and enjoyed the
pleasure of full view from which she had been so
long cut off. The maid who waited on her had told
her that Mr Salton had not yet returned home, so
that she felt free to enjoy the luxury of peace and
quiet.

As she looked out of the window of the high
tower, which she had opened, she saw something
thin and white move along the avenue far below
her. She thought she recognised the figure of
Lady Arabella, and instinctively drew back behind
the drawn curtain. When she had ascertained by
peeping out several times that the Lady did not
see her, she watched more carefully, all her in-
stinctive hatred of Lady Arabella flooding back at
the sight of her. Lady Arabella was moving
swiftly and stealthily, looking back and around her
at intervals as if she feared to be followed. This
opportunity of seeing her, as she did not wish to
be seen, gave Mimi an idea that she was up to no
good, and so she determined to seize the occasion
of watching her in more detail. Hastily putting
on a dark cloak and hat, she ran downstairs and
out into the avenue. Lady Arabella had moved,
but the sheen of her white dress was still to be
seen among the young oaks around the gateway.

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280 The Lair of the White Worm

Keeping herself in shadow, Mimi followed, taking
care not to come so close as to awake the other’s
suspicion. The abnormal blackness of the Bky
aided her, and, herself unnoticed and unnoticeable,
she watched her quarry pass along the road in the
direction of Oastra Regis.

She followed on steadily through the gloom of
the trees, depending on the glint of the white dress
to keep her right. The little wood began to thicken,
and presently, when the road widened and the trees
grew closer to each other though they stood farther
back, she lost sight of any indication of her where-
abouts. Under the present conditions it was im-
possible for her to do any more, so, after waiting
for a while, still hidden in the shadow to see if she
could catch another glimpse of the white frock,
she determined to go on slowly towards Castra
Regis and trust to the chapter of accidents to pick
up the trail again. She went on slowly, taking
advantage of every obstacle and shadow to keep
herself concealed. At last she entered on the
grounds of the Castle at a spot from which the
windows of the turret were dimly visible, without
having seen again any sign of Lady Arabella. In
the exceeding blackness of the night, the light in
the turret chamber seemed by comparison bright,
though it was indeed dim, for Edgar Caswall had
only a couple of candles alight. The gloom seemed
to suit his own state of mind.

All the time that she, Mimi Salton, had been

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coming from Doom, following as she thought Lady
Arabella March, she was in reality being followed
by Lady Arabella, who, having the power of seeing
in the darkness, had caught sight of her leaving
Doom Tower and had never again lost sight of
her. It was a rarely complete case of the hunter
being hunted, and, strange to say, in a manner
true of both parties to the chase. For a time
Mimi’s many turnings, with the natural obstacles
that were perpetually intervening, kept Mimi dis-
appearing and reappearing ; but when she was close
to Castra Regis there was no more possibility of
concealment, and the strange double following
went swiftly on. At this period of the chase, the
disposition of those concerned was this : Mimi,
still searching in vain for Lady Arabella, was
ahead ; and close behind her, though herself
keeping well concealed, came the other, who saw
everything as well as though it were daylight. The
natural darkness of the night and the blackness of
the storm-laden sky had no difficulties for her.
When she saw Mimi come close to the hall door of
Castra Regis and ascend the steps, she followed.
When Mimi entered the dark hall and felt her way
up the still darker staircase, still, as she believed,
following Lady Arabella, the latter still kept on
her way. When they had reached the lobby of the
turret-rooms, neither searched actively for the
other, each being content to go on, believing that
the object of her search was ahead of her.

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Edgar Caswall sat thinking in the gloom of the
great room, occasionally stirred to curiosity when
the drifting clouds allowed a little light to fall from
the storm-swept sky. But nothing really interested
him now. Since he had heard of Lilia’s death, the
gloom of his poignant remorse, emphasised by
Mimi’s upbraiding, had made more hopeless even
the darkness of his own cruel, selfish, saturnine
nature. He heard no sound. In the first place,
his normal faculties seemed benumbed by his in-
ward thought. Then the sounds made by the two
women were in themselves difficult to hear. Mimi
was light of weight, and in the full tide of her youth
and strength her movements were as light and as
well measured and without waste as an animal of
the forest.

As to Lady Arabella, her movements were at all
times as stealthy and as silent as those of her
pristine race, the first thousands of whose years was
occupied, not in direct going to and fro, but on
crawling on their bellies without notice and without
noise.

Mimi, when she came to the door, still a little
ajar, gave with the instinct of decorum a light
tap. So light it was that it did not reach Caswall’s
ears. Then, taking her courage in both hands, she
boldly but noiselessly pushed the door and entered.
As she did so, her heart sank, for now she was face
to face with a difficulty which had not, in her state
of mental perturbation, occurred to her.

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CHAPTER XXXYIII

ON THE TURRET ROOF

The storm which was coming was already making
itself manifest, not only in the wide scope of nature,
but in the hearts and natures of human beings.
Electrical disturbance in the sky and the air is
reproduced in animals of all kinds, and particularly
in the highest type of them all — the most receptive —
the most electrical themselves — the most recupera-
tive of their natural qualities, the widest sweeping
with their net of interests. So it was with Edgar
Caswall, despite his selfish nature and coldness of
blood. So it was with Mimi Salton, despite her
unselfish, unchanging devotion for those she loved.
So it was even with Lady Arabella, who, under the
instincts of a primeval serpent, carried the ever-
varying indestructible wishes and customs of woman-
hood, which is always old — and always new. Edgar,
after he had once turned his eyes on Mimi, resumed
his apathetic position and sullen silence. Mimi
quietly took a seat a little way apart from Edgar,
whence she could look on the progress of the coming
storm and study its appearance throughout the
whole visible circle of the neighbourhood. She was

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in brighter and better spirits than she had been all
day — or for many days past. Lady Arabella tried
to efface herself behind the now open door. At
every movement she appeared as if trying to
squeeze herself into each little irregularity in the
flooring beside her. Without, the clouds grew
thicker and blacker as the storm-centre came
closer. As yet the forces, from whose linking the
lightning springs, were held apart, and the silence
of nature proclaimed the calm before the storm.
Caswall felt the effect of the gathering electric force.
A sort of wild exultation grew upon him such as he
had sometimes felt just before the breaking of a
tropical storm. As he became conscious of this he
instinctively raised his head and caught the eye of
Mimi. He was in the grip of an emotion greater
than himself ; in the mood in which he was he felt
the need upon him of doing some desperate deed.
He was now absolutely reckless, and as Mimi was
associated with him in the memory which drove
him on, he wished that she too should be engaged
in this enterprise. Of course, he had no knowledge
of the proximity of Lady Arabella. He thought
that he was alone, far removed from all he knew
and whose interests he shared — alone with the
wild elements, which were being lashed to fury, and
with the woman who had struggled with him and
vanquished him, and on whom he would shower,
though in secret, the full measure of his hate.

The fact was that Edgar Caswall was, if not mad,

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something akin to it. His always eccentric nature,
fed by the dominance possible to one in his condi-
tion in life, had made him oblivious to the relative
proportions of things. That way madness lies.
A person who is either unable or unwilling to dis-
tinguish true proportions is apt to get further afield
intellectually with each new experience. From
inability to realise the true proportions of many
things, there is but one step to a fatal confusion.
Madness in its first stage — monomania — is a lack of
proportion. So long as this is general, it is not always
noticeable, for the uninspired onlooker is without
the necessary base of comparison. The realisation
only comes with an occasion, when the person in
the seat of judgment has some recognised standard
with which to compare the chimerical ideas of the
disordered brain. Monomania gives the oppor-
tunity. Men do not usually have at hand a number,
or even a choice of standards. It is the one thing
which is contrary to our experience which sets us
thinking; and when once the process of thought
is established it becomes applicable to all the
ordinary things of life ; and then discovery of the
truth is only a matter of time. It is because im-
perfections of the brain are usually of a character
or scope which in itself makes difficult a differentia-
tion of irregularities that discovery is not usually
made quickly. But in monomania the errant
faculty protrudes itself in a way that may not be
denied. It puts aside, obscures, or takes the place

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286 The Lair of the White Worm

of something else — just as the head of a pin placed
before the centre of the iris will block out the whole
scope of vision. The most usual form of mono-
mania has commonly the same beginning as that
from which Edgar Caswall suffered — an overlarge
idea of self-importance. Alienists, who study the
matter exactly, probably know more of human
vanity and its effects than do ordinary men. Their
knowledge of the intellectual weakness of an indivi-
dual seldom comes quickly. It is in itself an intel-
lectual process, and, if the beginnings can at all be
traced, the cure — if cure be possible — has already
begun. Caswall’ s mental disturbance was not hard
to identify. Every asylum is full of such cases —
men and women who, naturally selfish and egotisti-
cal, so appraise to themselves their own importance
that every other circumstance in life becomes
subservient to it. The declension is rapid. The
disease supplies in itself the material for self-magni-
fication. The same often modest, religious, un-
selfish individual who has walked perhaps for years
in all good ways, passing stainless through tempta-
tions which wreck most persons of abilities superior
to his own, develops — by a process so gradual that at
its first recognition it appears almost to be sudden
— into a self -engrossed, lawless, dishonest, cruel,
unfaithful person who cannot be trusted any more
than he can be restrained. When the same decad-
ence attacks a nature naturally proud , and selfish
and vain, and lacking both the aptitude and habit

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of self-restraint, the development of the disease is
more swift, and ranges to farther limits. It is such
persons who become imbued with the idea that they
have the attributes of the Almighty — even that they
themselves are the Almighty. Vanity, the begin-
ning, is also the disintegrating process and also the
melancholy end. A close investigation shows that
there is no new factor in this chaos. It is all exact
and logical. It is only a development and not a
re-creation : the germs were there already ; all that
has happened is that they have ripened and perhaps
fructified. CaswalTs was just such a case. He did
not become cruel or lawless or dishonest or unfaith-
ful ; those qualities were there already, wrapped up
in one or other of the many disguises of selfishness.

Character — of whatever kind it be, of whatever
measure, either good or bad — is bound in the long
run to justify itself according to its lights. The
whole measure of drama is in the development of
character. Grapes do not grow on thorns nor figs
on thistles. This is true of every phase of nature,
and, above all, true of character which is simply
logic in episodical form. The hand that fashioned
Edgar Caswall’s physiognomy in aquiline form, and
the mind that ordained it, did not err. Up to the
last he maintained the strength and the weakness
of aquiline nature. And in this final hour, when the
sands were running low, he, his intentions, and his
acts — the whole variations and complexities of his
individuality — were in essence the very same as

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288 The Lair of the White Worm

those which marked him in his earliest days. He
had ripened ; that was all.

Mimi had a suspicion — or rather, perhaps, an
intuition — of the true state of things when she heard
him speak, and at the same time noticed the abnor-
mal flush on his face, and his rolling eyes. There
was a certain want of fixedness of purpose which
she had certainly not noticed before — a quick,
spasmodic utterance which belongs rather to the
insane than to those of intellectual equilibrium.
She was a little astonished, not only by his thoughts
but by his staccato way of expressing them. The
manner remained almost longer in her memory than
the words. When, later, thinking the matter over,
she took into account certain matters of which at
the time she had not borne in mind : the odd hour
of her visit — it was now after midnight — close on
dawn ; the wild storm which was now close at hand ;
the previous nervous upset, of her own struggle with
him, of his hearing the news of Lilia’s death, of
her own untimely visit so fraught with unpleasant
experiences and memories. When in a calmer state
she weighed all these things in the balance, the doing
so not only made for toleration of errors and excesses,
but also for that serener mental condition in which
correctness of judgment is alone attainable.

As Caswall rose up and began to move to the door
leading to the turret stair by which the roof was
reached, he said in a peremptory way, whose tone
alone made her feel defiant :

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On the Turret Roof 289

“ Gome ! I want you.”

She instinctively drew back — she was not accus-
tomed to such words, more especially to such tone.
Her answer was indicative of a new contest :

“ Where to ? Why should I go ? What for ? ”

He did not at once reply — another indication of
his overwhelming egotism. He was now fast ap-
proaching the attitude of conscious Final Cause.
She repeated her questions. He seemed a little
startled ; but habit reasserted itself, and he spoke
without thinking the words which were in his heart.

“ I want you, if you will be so good, to come with
me to the turret roof. I know I have no right to
ask you, or to expect you to come. It would be a
kindness to me. I am much interested in certain
experiments with the kite which would be, if not a
pleasure, at least a novel experience to you. You
would see something not easily seen otherwise.
The experience may be of use some time, though I
cannot guarantee that.”

“ I will come,” she answered simply ; Edgar
moved in the direction of the stair, she following
close behind him.

She did not like to be left alone at such a height,
in such a place, in the darkness, with a storm about
to break. Of himself she had no fear ; all that had
been seemed to have passed away with her two
victories over him in the struggle of wills. More-
over, the more recent apprehension — that of his
madness — had also ceased. In the conversation of

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the last few minutes he seemed so rational, so clear,
so unaggressive, that she no longer saw reason even
for doubt. So satisfied was she that even when he
put out a hand to guide her to the steep, narrow
stairway, she took it without thought in the most
conventional way. Lady Arabella, crouching in
the lobby behind the door, heard every word that
had been said, and formed her own opinion of it.
It was evident to her that there had been some
rapprochement between the two, who had so lately
been hostile to each other, and that made her
furiously angry. It was not jealousy, but only that
Mimi was interfering with her plans. She had by
now made certain of her capture of Edgar Caswall,
and she could not tolerate even the lightest and
most contemptuous fancy on his part which might
divert him from the main issue. When she became
aware that he wished Mimi to come with him to
the roof and that she had acquiesced, her rage got
beyond bounds. She became oblivious to any
danger that might be in the visit to such an exposed
place at such a time, and to all lesser considerations,
and made up her mind to forestall them. By now
she knew well the turns and difficulties of the turret
stair, and could use it in darkness as well as in
light, — this, independent of her inherited ophidian
power of seeing without light. When she had come
to the lobby this evening, she had seen that the
steel wicket, usually kept locked, that forbade
entrance on the stairway, had been left open. So,

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On the Turret Roof 291

when she was aware of the visit of the two others
to the roof, she stealthily and noiselessly crept
through the wicket, and, ascending the stair,
stepped out on the roof. It was bitterly cold, for
the fierce gusts of the storm which swept round
the turret drove in through every unimpeded way,
whistling at the sharp comers and singing round
the trembling flagstaff. The kite-string and the
wire which controlled the runners made a concourse
of weird sounds which somehow, perhaps from the
violence which surrounded them, acting on their
length, resolved themselves into some kind of
harmony — a fitting accompaniment to the tragedy
which seemed about to begin.

Lady Arabella scorned all such thoughts, putting
them behind her as she did fear. Still moving
swiftly and stealthily, she glided across the stone
roof and concealed herself behind one of the machi-
colations of the tower. She was already safely en-
sconced when the heads of Edgar and Mimi, whom
he guided, appeared against the distant sky-line
as they came up the steep stair. Mimi’g heart
beat heavily. Just before leaving the turret-
chamber she had got a fright which she could not
shake off. The lights of the room had momentarily
revealed to her, as they passed out, Edgar's face
concentrated as it did whenever he intended to use
his mesmeric power. Now the black eyebrows
made a thick line across his face, under which his
eyes shone and glittered ominously. Mimi recog-

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nised the danger, and assumed the defiance that
had twice already served her so well. She had a
fear that the circumstances and the place were
against her, and she wanted to be forearmed.

The sky was now somewhat lighter than it had
been. Either there was lightning afar off, whose
reflections were carried by the rolling clouds, or
else the gathered force, though not yet breaking
into lightning, had an incipient power of light. It
seemed to affect both the man and the woman.
Edgar seemed altogether under its influence. His
spirits were boisterous, his mind exalted. He was
now at his worst ; madder even than he had been
earlier in the night. Mimi, trying to keep as far
from him as possible, moved across the stone floor
of the turret roof, and found a niche which concealed
her. It was not far from Lady Arabella’s place of
hiding, but the angle of the machicolation stood
between them, separating them. It was fortunate for
Mimi that she could not see the other’s face. Those
burning eyes concentrated in deadly hate would
have certainly unnerved her just as she wanted
the full of her will power to help her in extremity.

Edgar, left thus alone on the centre of the turret
roof, found himself altogether his own master in
a way which tended to increase his madness. He
knew that Mimi was close at hand, though he had
lost sight of her. He spoke loudly, and the sound
of his own voice, though it was carried from him
on the sweeping wind as fast as the words were

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293

spoken, seemed to exalt him still more. Even the
raging of the elements round him seemed to add
to his exaltation. To him it seemed that these
manifestations were obedient to his own will. He
had reached the sublime of his madness ; he was
now in his own mind actually the Almighty, and
whatever might happen would be the direct
carrying out of his own commands. As he could
not see Mimi nor fix whereabout she was, he shouted
loudly :

“ Come to me. You shall see now what you are
despising, what you are warring against. All that
you see is mine — the darkness as well as the light.
I tell you that I am greater than any other who is,
or was, or shall be. Look you now and learn.
When the Master of Evil took Him up on a high
place and showed Him all the kingdoms of the earth,
he was doing what he thought no other could do.
He was wrong. He forgot Me. You shall see.
I shall send you light to see by. I shall send it up
to the very ramparts of heaven. A light so great
that it shall dissipate those black clouds that are
rushing up and piling around us. Look ! Look !
At the very touch of my hand that light springs
into being and mounts up — and up — and up ! ”

He made his way whilst he wad speaking to the
corner of the turret whence flew the giant kite,
and from which the runners ascended. Mimi
looked on, appalled and afraid to speak lest she
should precipitate some calamity. Within the

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294 The Lair of the White Worm

machioolated niche Lady Arabella, quiet and still
as death, cowered in a paroxysm of fear. Edgar
took from his pocket a small wooden box, through
a hole in which the wire of the runner ran. This
evidently set some machinery in motion, for a
sound as of whirring came. From one side of the
box floated what looked like a piece of stiff ribbon,
which snapped and crackled as the wind took it.
For a few seconds Mimi saw it as it rushed along
the sagging line to the kite. When close to it,
there was a loud crack, like a minor explosion,
and a sudden light appeared to issue from every
chink in the box. Then a quick flame flashed
along the snapping ribbon, which glowed with an
intense light — a light so great that the whole of
the countryside around stood out against the back-
ground of black driving clouds. For a few seconds
the light remained, then suddenly disappeared in
the blackness around. That light had no mystery
for either Mimi or Lady Arabella, both of whom
had often seen manifestations of the same thing.
It was simply a magnesium light which had been
fired by the mechanism within the box carried up
to the kite. Edgar was in a state of tumultuous
excitement, shouting and yelling at the top of his
voice and dancing about like a violent lunatic.
But the others were quiet, Mimi nestling in her
niche and avoiding observation as well as she could.
Once the sagging string, caught in a wind-flurry,
was thrown across the back of her hand. Its

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On the Turret Roof 295

trembling had an extraordinary effect on her,
bracing her up to the full of her emotional power.
She felt, on the instant, that the spirit of Lilia was
beside her, and that it was Lilia’s touch which she
had felt. Lady Arabella had evidently made up
her mind what to do ; the inspiration how to do
it came to her with the sight of Mimi’s look of
power evident to her ophidian sight. On the in-
stant she glided through the darkness to the wheel
whereon the string of the kite was wound. With
deft fingers she found where the wheel of the Kelvin
sounding apparatus was fixed to it, and, unshipping
this, took it with her, reeling out the wire as she
went, and so keeping, in a way, in touch with the kite.
Then she glided swiftly to the wicket, through which
she passed, locking the gate behind her as she went.
Down the turret stair she flew quickly, letting the
wire run from the wheel which she carried carefully,
and, passing out of the hall door, ran down the
avenue with all her speed. She soon reached her
own gate, ran down the avenue, and with her small
key opened the iron door leading to the atrium.
The fine wire passed easily under the door. In the
room beside the atrium, where was the well-hole,
she sat down panting, unknown to all, for in the
coming she had escaped observation. She felt that
she was excited, and in order to calm herself began
a new form of experiment with regard to her obser-
vation of the hole. She fastened the lamp which
was ready for lowering to the end of the wire, whose

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296 The Lair of the White Worm

end came into the room. Then she began quietly
and methodically lowering the two by means of
the Kelvin sounding apparatus, intending to fire
at the right time the new supply of magnesium
ribbon which she had brought from the turret.
She felt well satisfied with herself. All her plans
were maturing, or had already matured. Castra
Regis was within her grasp. The woman whose
interference she feared, Lilia Watford, was dead.
Diana’s Grove and all its hideous secrets was now
in other hands, an accident to whom would cause
her no concern. Truly, all was well, and she felt
that she might pause a while and rest. She lay
down on a sofa close to the well-hole so that she
oould see it without moving when she had lit the
lamp. In a state of blissful content she sank into
a gentle sleep.

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CHAPTER XXXIX

THE BREAKING OF THE STORM

When Lady Arabella had gone away in her usual
noiseless fashion, the two others remained for a while
quite still in their places on the turret roof : Caswall
because he had nothing to say and could not think of
anything ; Mimi because she had much to say and
wished to put her thoughts in order. For quite a
while — which seemed interminable — silence reigned
between them. At last Mimi made a beginning —
she had made up her min d how to act.

“ Mr Caswall,” she said loudly, so as to make
sure of being heard through the blustering of the
wind and the perpetual cracking of the electricity.

Caswall said something in reply which she under-
stood to be : “I am listening.”

His words were carried away on the storm as
they came from his mouth. However, one of her
objects was effected : she knew now exactly where-
about on the roof he was. So she moved close to
the spot before she spoke again, raising her voice
almost to a shout :

“ The wicket is shut. Please to open it. I can’t
get out.”

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As she spoke she was quietly fingering the
revolver which Adam had given to her when she
got back to Liverpool, and which now lay in her
breast. She felt that she was caged like a rat in a
trap, but did not mean to be taken at a disadvantage,
whatever happened. By this time Caswall also
was making up his mind what his own attitude
would be. He, too, felt trapped, and all the brute
in him rose to the emergency. He never had
been counted — even by himself — as chivalrous ;
but now, when he was at a loss, even decency of
thought had no appeal for him. In a voice which
was raucous and brutal — much like that which is
heard when a wife is being beaten by her husband in
a slum — he hissed out, his syllables cutting through
the roaring of the storm :

“ I didn’t let you in here. You came of your own
accord — without permission, or even askingit. Now
you stay or go as you choose. But you must
manage it for yourself ; I’ll have nothing to do
with it.”

She answered, woman-like, with a query :

“ It was Lady Arabella who shut and locked it.
Was it by your wish ? ”

“ I had no wish one way or the other. I didn’t
even know that she was here.”

Then suddenly he added : “ How did you know it ? ”
“ By her white dress and the green gleam of her
eyes. Her figure is not hard to distinguish, even in
the dark.”

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The Breaking of the Storm 299

He gave some kind of snort of disagreement.
Taking additional umbrage at this, she went on in
words which she thought would annoy him most :

“ When a woman is gifted with a figure like hers,
it is easy to tell her even in a rope-walk or a bundle
of hop-poles.”

He even improved on her affronting speech :

“ Every woman in the eastern counties seems
to think that she has a right to walk into my house
at any hour of the day or night, and into every
room in the house whether I am there or not. I
suppose I’ll have to get watch-dogs and police to
keep them out, and spring guns and man-traps to
deal with them if they get in.” He went on more
roughly as if he had been wound up to it.

“ Well, why don’t you go ? ”

Her answer was spoken with dangerous suavity :
“ I am going. Blame yourself if you do not like
the time and manner of it. I daresay Adam — my
husband — Mr Salton, will have a word to say to you
about it ! ”

“ Let him say, and be damned to him, and to you
too ! I’ll show you a light. You shan’t be able
to say that you could not see what you were doing.”
As he spoke he was lighting another piece of the
magnesium ribbon, which made a blinding glare in
which everything was plainly discernible, down to
the smallest detail. This exactly suited her. She
took accurate note of the wicket and its fastening
before the glare had died away. She took her revolver

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out and had fired into the lock, which was shivered
on the instant, the pieces flying round in all direc-
tions, but happily without causing hurt to anyone.
Then she pushed the wicket open and ran down the
narrow stair and so to the hall door. Opening this
also, she ran down the avenue, never lessening her
speed till she stood outside the door of Doom Tower.
The household was all awake, and the door was
opened at once on her ringing.

She asked : “ Is Mr Salton in ? ”

“ He has just come in, a few minutes ago. He has
gone up to the study.”

She ran upstairs at once and joined him. He
seemed relieved when he saw her, but scrutinised
her face keenly. He saw that she had been in some
concern, so led her over to the sofa in the window
and sat down beside her.

“ Now, dear, tell me all about it ! ” he said.

She rushed breathlessly through all the details
of her adventure on the turret roof. Adam listened
attentively, helping her all he could, both positively
and negatively, nor embarrassing her by any ques-
tioning or surprise. His thoughtful silence was a
great help to her, for it allowed her to collect and
organise her thoughts. When she had done he gave
her his story without unnecessary delay :

“ I kept out of your way so as to leave you un-
hampered in anything you might wish to attend to.
But when the dark came and you were still out, I was
a little frightened about you. So I went to where

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The Breaking of the Storm 301

I thought you might be. First to Mercy ; but no
one there knew where you were. Then to Diana’s
Grove. There, too, no one could tell me anything.
But when the footman who opened the door went
to the atrium, looking if you were about, I caught
a glimpse of the room where the well-hole is. Beside
the hole, and almost over it, was a sofa on which lay
Lady Arabella quietly sleeping. So I went on to
Castra Regis, but no one there had seen you either.
When that magnesium light flared out from close
to the kite, I thought I saw you on the turret. I
tried to ascend, and actually got to the wicket at
foot of the turret stair. But that was locked, so I
turned back and went round the Brow on the chance
of meeting or seeing you ; then I came on here. I
only knew you had come home when Braithwait came
up to the study to tell me. I must go and see Cas-
wall to-morrow or next day to hear what he has to
say on the subject. You won’t mind, will you ? ”
She answered quickly, a new fear in her heart :

“ Oh no, dear, I wouldn’t and won’t mind any-
thing you think it right to do. But, dear, for my
sake, don’t have any quarrel with Mr Caswall. I
have had too much trial and pain lately to wish it
increased by any anxiety regarding you.”

“ You shall not, dear — if I can help it — please
God,” he said solemnly, and he kissed her.

Then, in order to keep her interested so that she
might forget the fears and anxieties that had dis-
turbed her, he began to talk over details of her

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adventure, making shrewd comments which at-
tracted and held her attention. Presently, inter
alia, he said :

“ That’s a dangerous game Caswall is up to.
It seems to me that that young man — though
he doesn’t appear to know it — is riding for a
fall I ”

“ How, dear ? I don’t understand.”

“ Kite flying on a night like this from a place like
the tower of Castra Regis is, to say the least of it,
dangerous. It is not merely courting death or other
accident from lightning, but it is bringing the
lightning into where he lives.”

“ Oh, do explain to me, Adam. I am very
ignorant on such subjects.”

“ Well, you see, Mimi, the air all around is
charged and impregnated with electricity, which
is simply undeveloped lightning. Every cloud
that is blowing up here — and they all make for the
highest point — is bound to develop into a flash of
lightning. That kite is up in the air about a mile
high and is bound to attract the lightning. Its
very string makes a road for it on which to travel
to earth. When it does come, it will strike the top
of the tower with a weight a hundred times greater
than a whole park of artillery. It will knock Castra
Regis into matches. Where it will go after that, no
one can tell. If there be any metal by which it can
travel, such will not only point the road, but be the
road itself. If anything of that sort should happen.

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The Breaking of the Storm 303

it may — probably will — wreck the whole neighbour-
hood ! ”

“ Would it be dangerous to be out in the open air
when such a thing is taking place ? ” she asked.

“ No, little girl. It would be the safest possible
place — so long as one was not in the line of the
electric current.”

“ Then, do let us go outside. I don’t want to
run into any foolish danger — or, far more, to ask you
to do so. But surely if the open is safest, that is the
place to be. We can easily keep out of electric
currents — if we know where they are. By the way,
I suppose these are carried and marked by wires,
or by something which can attract ? If so, we can
look for such. I had my electric torch that you
gave me recharged the day I was in Wolverhampton
with Sir Nathaniel.”

“ I have my torch too, all fit,” interposed Adam.

Without another word, she put on again the cloak
she had thrown off, and a small, tight-fitting cap.
Adam too put on his cap, and, after looking that his
revolver was all right, gave her his hand, and they
left the house together. When they had come to
the door, which lay quite open, Adam said :

“ I think the best thing we can do will be to go
round all the places which are mixed up in this affair.”

“ All right, dear, I am ready. But, if you don’t
mind, we might go first to Mercy. I am anxious
about grandfather, and we might see that — as yet,
at all events— nothing has happened there.”

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304 The Lair of the White Worm

“ Good idea. Let us go at once, Mimi.”

So they went on the high-hung road along the
top of the Brow. The wind here was of great force,
and made a strange booming noise as it swept high
overhead; though not the sound of cracking and
tearing as it passed through woods of high slender
trees which grew on either side of the road. Mimi
could hardly keep her feet. She was not afraid ;
but the force to which she was opposed gave her a
good excuse to hold on to her husband extra tight.

At Mercy there was no one up. At least, all the
lights were out. But to Mimi, accustomed to the
nightly routine of the house, there were manifest
signs that all was well, except in the little room on
the first floor, where the blinds were down. Mimi
could not bear to look at that, to think of it. Adam
understood her pain. He bent over and kissed
her, and then took her hand and held it hard. And
thus they passed on together, returning to the high
road towards Castra Regis. They had now got
ready their electric torches, depressing the lens of
each towards the ground so that henceforth on
their journey two little circles of bright light ran
ahead of them, and, moving from side to side as
they went, kept the ground in front of them and
at either side well disclosed.

At the gate of Castra Regis they were, if possible,
extra careful. When drawing near, Adam had asked
his wife several questions as to what signs, if any,
had been left of Lady Arabella’s presence in the

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The Breaking of the Storm 305

tower. So she told him, bat with greater detail,
of the wire from the Kelvin sounder, which, taking
its origin from the spot whence the kite flew,
marked the way through the wicket, down the
stairs and along the avenue.

Adam drew his breath at this, and said in a low,
earnest whisper :

“ I don’t want to frighten you, Mimi, dear, but
wherever that wire is there is danger.”

“ Danger ! How ? ”

“ That is the track where the lightning will go ;
any moment, even now whilst we are speaking and
searching, a fearful force may be loosed upon us.
You run on, dear ; you know the way down to where
the avenue joins the highroad. Keep your torch
moving, and if you see any sign of the wire keep
away from it, for God’s sake. I shall join you at
the gateway.”

She said in a low voice :

“ Are you going to find or to follow that wire
alone 1 ”

“ Yes, dear. One is sufficient for that work. I
shall not lose a moment till I am with you.”

“ Adam, when I came with you into the open,
when we both feared what might happen, my main
wish was that we should be together when the end
came. You wouldn’t deny me that right, would
you, dear ? ”

“ No, dear, not that or any right. Thank
God that my wife has such a wish. Gome ; we

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306 The Lair of the White Worm

will go together. We are in the hands of God. If
He wishes, we shall be together at the end, whenever
or wherever that may be. Kiss me, dear — even if
it be for the last time. Give me your hand. Now,
I am ready.”

And so, hand in hand, they went to find the new
danger together. They picked up the trail of the
wire on the steps of the entrance and followed it
down the avenue, taking especial care not to touch
it with their feet. It was easy enough to follow,
for the wire, if not bright, was self-coloured, and
showed at once when the roving lights of the electric
torches exposed it. They followed it out of the
gateway and into the avenue of Diana’s Grove.
Here a new gravity clouded over Adam’s face,
though Mimi saw no cause for fresh concern. This
waB easily enough explained. Adam knew of the
explosive works in progress regarding the well-hole,
but the matter had been studiously kept from his
wife. As they came near the house, Adam sent
back his wife to the road, ostensibly to watch the
course of the wire, telling her that there might be
a branch wire leading to somewhere else. She was
to search the undergrowth which the wire went
through, and, if she found it, was to warn him by
the Australian native “ Coo-ee ! ” which had been
arranged between them as the means of signalling.
When Mimi had disappeared in the avenue, Adam
examined the wire inch by inch, taking special note
of where it disappeared under the iron door at the

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The Breaking of the Storm 307

back of the house. When he was satisfied that he
was quite alone, he went round to the front of the
house and gently shoved the hall door, thinking
that perhaps it was unlocked and unbolted, after
the usual custom. It yielded, so he stole into the
hall, keeping his torch playing the light all over
the floor, both to avoid danger and to try to pick
the wire up again. When he came to the iron door
he saw the glint of the wire as it passed under it.
He traced it into the room with the well-hole,
taking care to move as noiselessly as possible.
He saw Lady Arabella sleeping on the sofa close to
the hole into which the continuation of the wire
disappeared. As he did so he heard a whispered
“ H-ss-h ! ” at the door, and, looking up, saw Mimi,
who signalled him to come out. He joined her,
and together they passed into the avenue.

Mimi whispered to him :

“ Would it not be possible to give someone here
warning ? They are in danger.”

He put his lips close to her ear and whispered his
reply :

“ We could, but it would not be safe. Lady
Arabella has brought the wire here herself for some
purpose of her own. If she were to suspect that
we knew or guessed her reason, she would take
other steps which might be still more dangerous.
It is not our doing, any of it. We had better not
interfere.”

Mimi, who had spoken from duty, far from any

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308 The Lair of the White Worm

wish or fear of her own, was only too glad to be
silent, and to get away, both safe. So her husband,
taking her by the hand, led her away from the
wire.

When they were in the wide part of the avenue,
he whispered again :

“ We must be careful, Mimi, what we do. We
are surrounded with unknown dangers on every
side, and we may, in trying to do good in some way,
do the very thing which we should most avoid.”
Under the trees, which cracked as the puff of
wind clashed their branches and the slender shafts
swayed to and from the upright, he went on :

“ We know that if the lightning comes it will
take the course of the kite string. We also know
that if it strikes Castra Regis it will still follow the
wire, which we have just seen running along the
avenue. But we don’t know to where else that wire
may lead the danger. It may be to Mercy — or to
Lesser Hill ; in fact, to anywhere in the neighbour-
hood. Moreover, we do not know when the stroke
may fall. There will be no warning, be sure of
that. It will, or may, come when we least expect
it. If we cut off the possibilities of the lightning
finding its own course, we may do irreparable harm
where we should least wish. In fact, the Doom is
probably spoken already. We can only wait in
what safety, or possibility of safety, we can achieve
till the moment sounds.”

Mimi was silent, but she stood very close to him

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The Breaking of the Storm 309

and held his hand tight. After a few moments
she spoke :

“ Then let the Doom fall when it may. We are
ready. At least, we shall die together ! ”

With the belief that death was hovering over
them, as was shown in the resignation which they
expressed to each other, it was little wonder that
Adam and Mimi were restless and practically un-
able to remain quiet or even in one place. They
spent the dark hours of the night wandering along
the top of the Brow, and waiting for — they knew
not what. Strange to say, they both enjoyed, or
thought they did, the tumult of Nature’s forces
around them. Had their nervous strain been less,
the sense of aestheticism which they shared would
have had more scope. Even as it was, the dark
beauties of sky and landscape appealed to them ;
the careering of the inky-black clouds ; the glimpses
of the wind-swept sky ; the rush and roar of the
tempest amongst the trees ; the never-ceasing
crackle of electricity ; the distant booming of the
storm as it rushed over the Mercian highlands, and
ever mingling its roar with the scream of the waves
on the pebble beaches of the eastern sea ; the round,
big waves breaking on the iron-bound marge of the
ocean ; the distant lights, which grew bright as the
storm swept past, and now and again seemed to
melt into the driving mist — all these things claimed
their interest and admiration, forming, as it were, a
background of fitting grandeur and sublimity to

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310 The Lair of the White Worm

the great tragedy of life which was being enacted
in their very midst. When such a thought crossed
Mimi’s mind, it seemed to restore in an instant her
nerve and courage. In the wild elemental warfare,
such surface passions as fear and anger and greed
seemed equally unworthy to the persons within their
scope and to the occasion of their being. In those
flying minutes, Adam and Mi mi found themselves,
and learned — did they not know it already? — to
value personal worthiness.

As the dawn grew nearer, the violence of the storm
increased. The wind raged even more tumultuously.
The flying clouds grew denser and blacker, and
occasionally flashes of lightning, though yet far-
distant, cut through the oppressive gloom. The
tentative growling of thunder changed, at instants,
to the rolling majesty of heaven’s artillery. Then
came a time when not seconds elapsed between the
white flash and the thunder-burst, which ended in
a prolonged roll which seemed to shake the whole
structure of the world.

But still through all the great kite, though assailed
by all the forces of air, tugged strenuously but
unconquered against its controlling string.

At length, when the sky to the east began to
quicken there seemed a lull in the storm. Adam
and Mimi had gone the whole length of the Brow,
and had come so far on the return towards Castra
Regis as to be level with Diana’s Grove. The com-
parative silence of the lull gave both Adam and his

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The Breaking of the Storm 31 1

wife the idea of coming again close to the house.
In his secret heart Adam was somewhat impatient of
the delay of the kite drawing down the lightning —
and he was also not too well pleased at it. He had
been so long thinking of the destruction of the Lair
of the White Worm that the prolongation seemed
undue and excessive — indeed, unfair. Nevertheless,
he waited with an outward appearance of patience
and even calm ; but his heart was all the while
raging. He wanted to know and to feel that he had
seen the last of the White Worm. With the coming
of the day the storm seemed less violent, simply
because the eyes of the onlookers came to the aid
of their ears. The black clouds seemed less black
because the rest of the landscape was not swathed
in impenetrable gloom. When any of our usual
organs of sense are for any cause temporarily useless,
we are deprived of the help of perspective in addi-
tion to any Special deprivation. To both Adam and
Mimi the promise of the dawn was of both help and
comfort. Not only was the lifting of the pall of
blackness — even if light only came through rents in
the wind-tom sky — hopeful, but the hope that came
along with light brought consolation and renewing
of spirit. Together they moved on the road to
Diana’s Grove. Adam had taken his wife’s arm in
that familiar way which a woman loves when she
loves the man, and, without speaking, guided her
down the avenue towards the house.

The top of the hill on which Diana’s Grove was

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312 The Lair of the White Worm

seated had, from time immemorial, been kept free
from trees or other obstruction which might hide
the view. In early days this was not for any
aesthetic reason, but simply to guard against the
unseen approach of enemies. However, the result
was the same ; an uninterrupted view all round was
obtained or preserved. Now, as the young people
stood out in the open they could see most of the
places in which for the time they were interested.
Higher up on the Brow and crowning it rose Castra
Regis, massive and stem — the very moral of a grey,
massive frowning Norman fortress. Down the hill,
half way to the level of the plain where lay the deep
streams and marsh-ringed pools, Mercy Farm
nestled among protecting woods. Half hidden
among stately forest trees, and so seeming far away.
Lesser Hill reared its look-out tower. Adam took
Mimi’s hand, and instinctively they moved down
close to the house of Diana’s Grove, noticing, as they
went, its inhospitable appearance. Never a window,
a door, or chimney seemed to have any living force
behind it. It was all cold and massive as a Roman
temple, with neither prospect nor promise of welcome
or comfort. Adam could not help recalling to his
mind the last glimpse he had of its mistress — looking
thinner even than usual in her white frock, drawn
tight to her as it had been to resist the wind pressure.
Calmly sleeping, she lay on the sofa close to the
horrible well-hole— so close to it that it seemed as
if the slightest shock or even shake would hurl her

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The Breaking of the Storm 313

Into the abyss. The idea seemed to get hold of
him ; he could not shake it off. For a few
moments it seemed to him as if the walls had
faded away like mist, and that as if, in a vision
of second sight, there was a dim adumbration of
a phase of the future — a kind of prophecy.
Mimi’s touch on his arm as if to BUggest mov-
ing from the spot, recalled him to himself. To-
gether they moved round to the back of the
house, and stood where the wind was less fierce
in the shelter of the iron door.

Whilst they were standing there, there came a
blinding flash of lightning which lit up for several
seconds the whole area of earth and sky. It was
only the first note of the celestial prelude, for it was
followed in quick succession by numerous flashes,
whilst the crash and roll of thunder seemed con-
tinuous. Adam, appalled, drew his wife to him and
held her close. As far as he could estimate by the
interval between lightning and thunder-clap, the
heart of the storm was still some distance off, and
so he felt no present concern for their safety. Still,
it was apparent that the course of the storm was
moving swiftly in their direction. The lightning
flashes came faster and faster and closer together ;
the thunder-roll was almost continuous, not stopping
for a moment — a new crash beginning before the
old one had ceased. Adam kept looking up in the
direction where the kite strained and struggled at
its detaining cord, but, of course, the dawn was not

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314 The Lair of the White Worm

yet sufficiently advanced to permit of his seeing it
in a glance.

At length there came a flash so appallingly bright
that in its glare nature seemed to be standing still.
So long did it laBt, that there was time to distinguish
its configuration. It seemed like a mighty tree
inverted, pendent from the sky. The roots overhead
were articulated. The whole oountry around within
the angle of vision was lit up till it seemed to glow.
Then a broad ribbon of fire seemed to drop on the
tower of Castra Regis just as the thunder crashed.
By the glare of the lightning he could see the tower
shake and tremble and finally fall to pieces like a
house of cards. The passing of the lightning left
the sky again dark, but a blue flame fell downward
from the tower and, with inconceivable rapidity
running along the ground in the direction of Diana’s
Grove, reached the dark silent house, which in the
instant burst into flame at a hundred different
points. At the same moment rose from the house
a rending, crashing sound of woodwork, broken or
thrown about, mixed with a quick yell so appalling
that Adam, stout of heart as he undoubtedly was,
felt his blood turned into ice. Instinctively,
despite the danger and their consciousness of it,
husband and wife took hands and listened, tremb-
ling. Something was going on close to them, mysteri-
ous, terrible, deadly. The shrieks continued, though
less sharp in sound, as though muffled. In the midst
of them was a terrific explosion, seemingly sounding

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The Breaking of the Storm 315

from deep in the earth. They looked around. The
flames from Castra Regis and also from Diana’s
Grove made all around almost as light as day, and
now that the lightning had ceased to flash, their eyes,
unblinded, were able to judge both perspective and
detail. The heat of the burning house caused the
iron doors either to warp and collapse or to force
the hinges. Seemingly of their own accord, they
flew or fell open, and exposed the interior. The
Saltons could now look through the atrium and the
room beyond where the well-hole yawned, a deep
narrow circular chasm. From this the agonised
shrieks were rising, growing even more terrible with
each second that passed. But it was not only the
heart-rending sound that almost paralysed poor
Mimi with terror. What she saw was alone suffi-
cient to fill her with evil dreams for the remainder
of her life. The whole place looked as if a sea of
blood had been beating against it. Each of the
explosions from below had thrown out from the
well-hole, as if it had been the mouth of a cannon, a
mass of fine sand mixed with blood, and a horrible
repulsive slime in which were great red masses of
rent and tom flesh and fat. As the explosions kept
on, more and more this repulsive mass was shot up,
the great bulk of it falling back again. The mere
amount of this mass was horrible to contemplate.
Many of the awful fragments were of something
which had lately been alive. They quivered anid
trembled and writhed as though they were still in

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316 The Lair of the White Worm

torment, a supposition to which the unending
scream gave a horrible credence. At moments
some mountainous mass of flesh surged up through
the narrow orifice as though it were forced by a
measureless power through an opening infinitely
smaller than itself. Some of these fragments were
covered or partially covered with white skin as of
a human being, and others — the largest and most
numerous — with scaled skin as of a gigantic lizard or
serpent. And now and again to these clung masses
of long black hair which reminded Adam of a chest
full of Bcalps which he had seen seized from a maraud-
ing party of Comanche Indians. Once, in a sort of
lull or pause, the seething contents of the hole rose
after the manner of a bubbling spring, and Adam
saw part of the thin form of Lady Arabella forced
up to the top amid a mass of blood and slime and
what looked as if it had been the entrails of a
monster tom in shreds. Several times some
masses of enormous bulk were forced up through
the well-hole with inconceivable violence, and,
suddenly expanding as they came into larger
space, disclosed great sections of the White Worm
which Adam and Sir Nathaniel had seen looking
over the great trees with its enormous eyes of
emerald-green flickering like great lamps in a
gale.

At last the explosive power, which was not yet
exhausted, evidently reached the main store of
dynamite which had been lowered into the worm

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The Breaking of the Storm 317

hole. The result was appalling. The ground for
far around quivered and opened in long deep
chasms, whose edges shook and fell in, throw-
ing up clouds of sand which fell back and hissed
amongst the rising water. The heavily built house
shook to its foundations. Great stones were
thrown up as from a volcano, some of them, great
masses of hard stone squared and grooved with
implements wrought by human hands, breaking up
and splitting in mid air as though riven by some
infernal power. Trees near the house, and therefore
presumably in some way above the hole, which sent
up clouds of dust and steam and fine sand mingled,
and which carried an appalling stench which
sickened the spectators, were tom up by the roots
and hurled into the air. By now, flames were
bursting violently from all over the ruins, so
dangerously that Adam caught up his wife in his
arms and ran with her from the proximity of the
flames.

Then almost as quickly as it had begun,
the whole cataclysm ceased. A deep-down
rumbling continued intermittently for some
time. And then silence brooded over all —
silence so complete that it seemed in itself a
sentient thing — silence which seemed like in-
carnate darkness, and conveyed the same idea
to all who came within its radius. To the young
people who had suffered the long horror of
that awful night, it brought relief — relief from the

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318 The Lair of the White Worm

presence or the fear of all that was horrible — relief
which seemed perfected when the red rays of son-
rise shot up over the far eastern sea, bringing a
promise of a new order of things with the coming
day.

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CHAPTER XL

WRECKAGE

His bed saw little of Adam Salton for the remainder
of that night. He and Mimi walked hand in hand
in the brightening dawn round by the Brow to
Castra Regis and on to Doom Tower. They did
so deliberately in an attempt to think as little as
possible of the terrible experiences of the night.
They both tried loyally to maintain the other’s
courage, and in helping the other to distract atten-
tion from the recollections of horror. The morning
was bright and cheerful, as a morning sometimes
is after a devastating storm. The air was full
of sunshine. The clouds, of which there were
plenty in evidence, brought no lingering idea of
gloom. All nature was bright and joyous, being
in striking contrast to the scenes of wreck and
devastation, of the effects of obliterating fire and
lasting ruin.

The only evidence of the once stately pile of
Castra Regis was a shapeless huddle of shattered
architecture dimly seen at moments as the sea-
breeze swept aside the cloud of thin, bluish, acrid
smoke which presently marked the site of the once

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320 The Lair of the White Worm

lordly castle. As for Diana’s Grove, they looked
in vain for a sign which had a suggestion of perman-
ence. The oak trees of the Grove were still to be
seen — some of them — emerging from a haze of
smoke, the great trunks tolid and erect as ever,
but the larger branches broken and twisted and rent,
with bark stripped and chipped, and the smaller
branches broken and dishevelled looking from the
constant stress and threshing of the storm. Of the
house as such, there was, even at the little distance
from whioh they looked, no trace. With the resolu-
tion to which he had come — to keep from his wife
as well as he could all sights which might cause her
pain or horror or leave unipleas ant memories — Adam
resolutely turned his back on the area of the devasta-
tion and hurried on to Doom Tower. This, with the
strength and cosiness of the place, its sense of
welcome and the perfection of its thoughtful order-
ing, gave Mi mi the best sense of security and peace
which she had had since, on last evening, she had left
its shelter. She was not only upset and shocked
in many ways, but she was physically “ dog tired ”
and falling asleep on her feet. Adam took her to
her room and made her undress and get into bed,
taking care that the room was well lighted both by
sunshine and lamps. The only obstruction was
from a silk curtain drawn across the window to
keep out the glare. When she was feeling sleep
steal over her, he sat beside her holding her hand,
well knowing that the comfort of his presence was

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321

Wreckage

the best restorative for her. He stayed with her
in that way till sleep had overmastered her wearied
body. Then he went softly away. He found Sir
Nathaniel in the study having an early cup of tea,
amplified to the dimensions of possible breakfast.
After a little chat, the two agreed to go together to
look at the ruins of Diana’s Grove and Castra Regis.
Adam explained that he had not told his wife that
he was going over the horrible places again, lest it
would frighten her, whilst the rest and sleep in
ignorance would help her and make a gap of peace-
fulness between the horrors. Sir Nathaniel agreed
in the wisdom of the proceeding, and the two went
off together.

They visited Diana’s Grove first, not only because
it was nearer, but that it was the place where most
description was required, and Adam felt that he could
tell his story best on the spot. The absolute
destruction of the place and everything in it seen
in the broad daylight was almost inconceivable.
To Sir Nathaniel it was as a story of horror full and
complete. But to Adam it was, as it were, only on
the fringes. He knew what was still to be seen
when his friend had got over the knowledge of
externals. As yet, Sir Nathaniel had only seen the
outside of the house — or rather, where the outside
of the house had been. The great horror lay within.
However, age — and the experience of age — counts.
Sir Nathaniel in his long and eventful life had seen

too many terrible and horrible sights to be dismayed

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322 The Lair of the White Worm

at a new one, even of the kind which lay cloee before
him, though just beyond his vision. A strange,
almost elemental, change in the aspect had taken
place in the time which had elapsed since the dawn.
It would almost seem as if Nature herself had tried
to obliterate the evil signs of what had occurred,
and to restore something of the aesthetic significance
of the place. True, the utter ruin and destruction
of the house was made even more manifest in the
searching daylight ; but the more appalling destruc-
tion which lay beneath was not visible. The rent,
tom, and dislocated stonework looked worse than
before ; the upheaved foundations, the piled-up
fragments of masonry, the fissures in the tom earth —
all were at the worst. The Worm’s hole was still
evident, a round fissure seemingly leading down
into the very bowels of the earth. But all the
horrid mass of blood and slime, of tom, evil-
smelling flesh and the sickening remnants of violent
death, were gone. Either some of the later ex-
plosions had thrown up from the deep quantities of
water which, though foul and corrupt itself, had still
some cleansing power left, or else the writhing mass
which stirred from far down below had helped to
drag down and obliterate the items of horror. A
gray dust, partly of fine sand, partly of the waste
of the falling ruin, covered everything, and, though
ghastly itself, helped to mask in something still
worse. After a few minutes of watching, it became
apparent to both men that the turmoil far below

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Wreckage 323

had not yet quite ceased. At short irregular
intervals the hell-broth in the hole seemed as if
boiling up. It rose and fell again and turned over,
showing in fresh form much of the nauseous detail
which had been visible earlier. The worst parts
to see were the great masses of the flesh of the
monstrous Worm in all its red and sickening aspect.
Such fragments had been naturally bad enough
before, but now they were infinitely worse. Cor-
ruption comes with startling rapidity to beings
whose destruction has been due wholly or in part
to lightning. Now the whole mass seemed to have
become all at once corrupt. But that corruption
was not all. It seemed to have attracted every
natural organism which was in itself obnoxious.
The whole surface of the fragments, once alive, was
covered with insects, worms, and vermin of all kinds.
The sight was horrible enough, but, with the awful
smell added, was simply unbearable. The Worm’s
hole appeared to breathe forth death in its most
repulsive forms. Both Adam and Sir Nathaniel,
with one impulse, turned and ran to the top of the
Brow, where a fresh breeze from the eastern sea was
blowing up.

At the top of the Brow, beneath them as they
looked down, they saw a shining mass of white,
which looked strangely out of place amongst such
wreckage as they had been viewing. It appeared
so strange that Adam suggested trying to find a way
down so that they might see it closely.

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324 The Lair of the White Worm

Sir Nathaniel suddenly stopped and said :

“ We need not go down. I know what it is.
The explosions of last night have blown off the out-
side of the cliffs. That which we see is the vast bed
of china clay through which the Worm originally
found its way down to its lair. See, there is the
hole going right down through it. We can catch
the glint of the water of the deep quags far down
below. Well, her ladyship didn’t deserve such a
funeral, or such a monument. But all’s well that
ends well. We had better hurry home. Your wife
may be waking by now, and is sure to be frightened
at first. Come home as soon as you can. I shall
see that breakfast is ready. I think we all want it.”

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